Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell Vought arrives to testify during a hearing of the House Budget Committee about President Trump's budget for Fiscal Year 2021, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Trump's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget faced a tough grilling from Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday.

If confirmed, Mr. Vought will be at the center of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to upend the federal bureaucracy.

Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget, poses for a photo with Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Russell Vought, Project 2025 mastermind and Trump’s nominee for the Office of Management and Budget, had quite a testy confirmation hearing.

Donald Trump's choice to oversee the federal budget, Russell Vought, defended the U.S. president-elect's goal of cutting spending by refusing to spend money that Congress has already authorized at a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

As U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House, it already seems clear that his second term will look little like his first. Many of Trump’s first-term appointments distanced themselves from his views and even denounced him.

Some roll back previous executive orders issued by Biden. Others reinstate executive orders from Trump’s first term.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, is the latest to express public disapproval, particularly for the pardons for those convicted of assaulting police officers.

On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States, some people who work for the federal government are concerned. Trump and his allies have repeatedly promised to dismantle the administrative state and fire those they perceive as disloyal.

Donald Trump is remaking the traditional boundaries of Washington as his administration’s priorities begin to take shape.

Meanwhile, in an executive order, Trump created his long-discussed “Department of Government Efficiency,” to be led by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man. On paper, the department is tasked with modernizing federal technology and software; however, Trump and Musk have spent months boasting about how it will gut the federal government.