Trump’s Budget ‘Grim Reaper’ Eyes Major Cuts Amid Government Shutdown

He is perhaps the most powerful figure in Washington right now, after Donald Trump.

Russell Vought, the right-wing ideologue and head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is using the current US government shutdown to implement his vision of shock therapy for American bureaucracy.

Traditionally, shutdowns result in hundreds of thousands of federal workers being placed on temporary unpaid leave. However, the White House has indicated that mass firings are “imminent” this time.

Trump has tasked Vought with identifying “which of the many Democrat agencies… he recommends to be cut.” The President even posted an AI-generated video on his Truth Social platform depicting Vought as the Grim Reaper, scythe in hand, walking through Washington.

Vought is implementing a far-right governance blueprint, Project 2025, which he helped author. During his reelection campaign, Trump distanced himself from the ultra-conservative policy plan, which envisions vastly expanded executive control over a sharply reduced federal government.

Now, Trump publicly refers to the 49-year-old Vought as “he of PROJECT 2025 Fame.”

Lawmaker Rosa DeLauro, the ranking Democrat on the committee that allocates funding to federal agencies, accused Vought of orchestrating the shutdown: “He has been scheming, hoping and planning for this since he was last in office, building his plan to dismantle essential government functions with no regard for the working class, the middle class, and vulnerable Americans who depend on them,” she said on the first day of the shutdown.

Shutdowns occur when lawmakers fail to pass the annual budget bill necessary to fund the government.

Born in Connecticut, Vought attended a small evangelical Christian college, later earning a law degree. He began his career as a staffer for Republican lawmakers, then worked as a lobbyist for the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Vought joined the Office of Management and Budget, eventually becoming its director during Trump’s first term. He spent President Biden’s term preparing for a conservative takeover of government via his think tank, the Center for Renewing America, with a focus on what he considers efficiency in an overly bureaucratic system.

Speaking to conservative commentator Tucker Carlson after Trump’s 2024 reelection, Vought declared:

“Trump has to move executively as fast and as aggressively as possible, with a radical constitutional perspective, to be able to dismantle that bureaucracy.”

In September, he described the federal government as “the woke and weaponised administrative state,” referring to civil servants who resist directives from an elected president.

Vought was swiftly confirmed by the Senate for a second term as OMB director in February 2025. Early in the Trump administration, however, Elon Musk reportedly implemented cost-cutting measures that sometimes irritated Vought, who disagreed with certain approaches.

Despite this, Vought fully supports the abrupt dismantling of government agencies.

“Yes, I called for trauma within bureaucracies. Bureaucracies hate the American people,” he said in November.
“It’s quite simple: all executive power must be vested in the executive branch.”

Among his targets are:

• Foreign aid, which he supports reducing significantly.
• Federal funding for public broadcasting, which he aims to end.
• Numerous regulations, many of which he intends to roll back.

“It’s exciting to be involved in this,” Vought recently stated, highlighting his enthusiasm for reshaping government functions under Trump’s administration.

Key Facts About Russell Vought