Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought is relishing the government shutdown, at least according to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). Lee told Fox News (via HuffPost) that the OMB Director has a chance to fulfill his adolescent dreams.
“Russ Vought, the OMB director, has been dreaming about this moment, preparing this moment, since puberty.”
Before the shutdown began on Wednesday, conservative Republicans and Trump officials had cast Vought as a relentless figure poised to slash government spending if given the opportunity.
— Unofficial Trump on X (@trump_repost) October 3, 2025
Democrats have made it clear that they’re not intimidated by Vought’s antics, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) blasting him as “a malignant political hack” and telling him to “get lost.”
Russell Vought is regarded as the mastermind behind the administration’s strategy to boost President Donald Trump’s authority by asserting greater control over federal spending.
“Russ Vought has a plan, and that plan is going to succeed in empowering — further empowering Trump,” Lee added. “This is going to be the Democrats’ worst nightmare and it’s of their own making.”
Vought has made no secret of his desire to dramatically scale back government, reducing it to a bare-boned operational shell of itself. He is said to be a key architect of Project 2025, a political initiative by the Heritage Foundation that aims to reshape the federal government of the United States. However, during the 2024 presidential elections, Trump insisted he didn’t know anything about Project 2025.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump referred to Russell Vought as the “grim reaper” amid the government shutdown. On Thursday, Trump posted a video on Truth Social, depicting Vought as the figure, declaring he “wields the pen, the funds, and the brain.”
In the 67-second-long AI-generated video, the reaper can be seen walking through a dark hallway that has portraits of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The post came shortly after President Donald Trump met with the OMB Director Russell Vought to determine which of the agencies he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Levitt said the looming federal layoffs will likely be in the thousands.
“It’s likely going to be in the thousands. It’s a very good question, and that’s something that the Office of Management and Budget and the entire team at the White House here again, is unfortunately having to work on today,” Levitt told the press. “We’re going to look at agencies that don’t align with the administration’s values that we feel are a waste of the taxpayer dollars.”
The administration’s plans to cut thousands of federal jobs and freeze federal grants during the shutdown have drawn pushback from some Republicans on Capitol Hill, who warn the strategy could backfire as the party seeks to pin the funding lapse on Democrats.
The Senate is scheduled to hold another vote on the funding proposals Friday, though lawmakers have signaled they expect the shutdown to last at least a week.
