Democrats have knives out for Trump’s budget chief

Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's Director of the Office of Management and Budget and architect of his Project 2025 agenda, has been one of the most powerful people in Washington since the Republican started his second term. Yet according to a new report, Vought is about to find his job in danger.

"Congressional Democrats obviously have lots of things on their to-do list for next year, starting with cost-of-living issues and cracking down on corruption," wrote The Bulwark's Catherine Ramnpell on Thursday. "But there’s another key priority that has gotten less attention but is no less important: restoring the constitutional separation of powers so that Congress actually controls the power of the purse again."

She added, "Or to put it in more colorful terms: Congress is about to reclaim its cojones, and then go after the low-profile cabinet member who sliced them off in the first place."

After breaking down the details of how Vought has stymied Congress and allegedly behaved illegally, Rampell added, "Once back in the majority, Democratic lawmakers have some tools at their disposal to reclaim the power of the purse. Or at the very least, make it harder for Trump and Vought to keep violating the Constitution."

She continued, "A lot of the tools involve more careful writing of appropriations bills, and taking away any plausible claim Trump has for exercising discretion in spending decisions. For example, lawmakers could be more specific in how they lay out the criteria for awards, so Trump has no effective way to favor friends and disfavor perceived enemies (e.g., by specifying that any state that has had landfall of a storm blowing with hurricane-force winds must be treated as eligible for Stafford Act funding, thereby preventing Trump from withholding those funds from blue states). Congress could also make it easier for private parties to bring a lawsuit when funding gets illegally frozen."

Rampell added, "That’ll help prevent future illegal impoundments. But what about damage already done? Democrats could start by subpoenaing documentation of all the ways Vought has helped the administration break the law."

In August, economist Dr. Robert J. Shapiro — who advised President Bill Clinton during his balanced budgets and four surpluses — told AlterNet that the current $40 trillion deficit is largely Trump's fault.

"Deficits equal to six or seven percent of GDP, which is unprecedented in the postwar era," Shapiro told AlterNet at the time. "It's a real outlier. And that's driven entirely by his tax changes, which carry enormous budgetary costs, plus a wholesale, large-scale increase in defense spending. So how much of this is Trump? A majority of it — not all of it, but a majority."

On Thursday Shapiro told AlterNet that the deficits have also compounded the economic problems facing ordinary Americans, the same ones that played a large role in them turning against Republicans during the midterm elections on Tuesday.

"The debt does have effects that have exacerbated the economic squeeze on people," Shapiro told AlterNet. "Most clearly, financing the debt absorbs so much available savings that other forms of credit, like mortgages and credit card debt, become more expensive. It's supply and demand. There's less savings left over, because when you have a $40 trillion debt, it's not simply that you have to finance an additional $2 trillion each year, because that's the annual deficit now: $2 trillion. In addition, $10 trillion each year comes up for refinancing. That is, the Treasury securities mature, and so you have to float new Treasury securities to refinance the debt that has now matured. You buy a 10-year bond, or you buy a five-year note. Five years later, it matures. You've got to pay it off, and in order to pay it off, you've got to borrow the money."