The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Feb. 6, 2025. The Senate voted 53-47 in favor of his nomination with all 53 Republicans voting in favor. This was the 13th member of President Donald Trump’s (R) Cabinet confirmed in his second presidential term.
Trump announced on Nov. 22, 2024, that he had selected Vought as his nominee for director of the OMB. Trump said of Vought’s nomination, “He did an excellent job serving in this role in my First Term – We cut four Regulations for every new Regulation, and it was a Great Success!” The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee held a confirmation hearing for Vought on Jan. 15, 2025, and voted 8-7 to advance his nomination, and the Senate Budget Committee held a confirmation hearing for Vought on Jan. 22 and voted 11-0, with all Democrats on the committee abstaining from the vote, to advance his nomination.
Vought received his B.A. from Wheaton College and his J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. He began his career working for former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas) as a legislative assistant. Vought’s professional experience includes serving as policy director for the House Republican Conference, executive director of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), and budget director of the RSC. Vought served as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from February 2018 to January 2019. The United States Senate confirmed Vought as OMB director on July 20, 2020. He left office on January 20, 2021. In 2021, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, an organization supporting Trump’s policies.
A presidential Cabinet is a group of senior federal officials who advise the president on the issues and activities of their respective agencies. The number of officials in a Cabinet can vary across presidential administrations. While not explicitly identified in the Constitution, the Cabinet secretaries are the 15 agency heads who are in the presidential line of succession. The vice president is also part of the Cabinet.
During Trump’s second term, the following offices are also Cabinet-rank positions: White House chief of staff, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, the U.S. trade representative, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the director of National Intelligence, the administrator of the Small Business Administration, and the ambassador to the United Nations.