The U.S. Senate voted along party lines 53-47 to confirm Russell Vought as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget Feb. 6.

With the vote, Vought returns to lead the same office he ran during part of President Donald Trump’s first administration, and leaders at contractor groups shared optimism that he will help reduce regulatory hurdles for the construction industry despite concerns about federal project funding. 

OMB normally fills a largely behind-the-scenes role in setting policy, budgeting and rulemaking, although the office recently raised controversy with a Jan. 27 memo that ordered a “temporary pause” of federal grant, loan and other financial assistance programs. The White House later rescinded the memo, which had already drawn multiple legal challenges and been temporarily blocked by a federal judge. 

The memo caused widespread confusion among many different recipients of federal funding, including owners of some public and private construction projects being financed in part with federal grants. Legislation passed during the Biden administration such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS and Science Act put billions of dollars toward numerous projects across transportation, renewable energy, manufacturing and other sectors. 

Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and workforce at the Associated General Contractors of America, says that while the wording of the memo did seem to put things like formula funding for highway and transit projects at risk, with the order on hold the group is hopeful that project funding will not be impacted as OMB reviews discretionary funding priorities. 

“It’s one of those positions in Washington that is not a household name, but really has one of the broader impacts on the economy,” Turmail says. “We have high expectations for [Vought], and certainly hope that he will focus on the deregulatory agenda of the president and not get distracted by some of the culture wars that could consume a lot of oxygen in this town.”

AGC is also hoping a Vought-led OMB will help reduce regulatory requirements on the construction industry. Trump signed an executive order Jan. 31 directing that any agency adding a new rule, regulation or guidance must identify at least 10 others to be repealed, and OMB’s director is tasked with examining regulatory costs in conjunction with that. 

Regulations added during the Biden administration, including ones paused under litigation, could be some of the first to be targeted, says Ben Brubeck, vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs at the Associated Builders and Contractors. The group hopes to see all requirements for project labor agreements on federal contracts removed to alleviate skilled labor shortages and reduce cost pressures on contractors. 

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims last month ruled in favor of contractors that challenged former President Joe Biden’s policy requiring the agreements on federal projects of $35 million or more, in contracts from the U.S. General Services Administration. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, but the mandate "has not been rescinded and remains in effect for any other large-scale, construction procurement that was not part of this consolidated protest," said Jacob Scott, a partner at construction-and-federal--focused law firm Smith Currie Oles.

“With the Trump tax cuts before as well as the Trump regulatory efforts in his previous administration, the companies we spoke to were taking the money they were pumping into compliance and buying more equipment, hiring new workers and increasing their wages,” Brubeck says.

Policy Agenda

Outside of his work for the prior Trump administration, Vought has been involved with conservative political groups including Heritage Action for America and the Center for Renewing America. He is one of the creators of the ultra-conservative policy agenda Project 2025. In Project 2025 policy documents, Vought laid out his vision for an OMB that acts as the president’s “air-traffic control system with the ability and charge to ensure that all policy initiatives are flying in sync and with the authority to let planes take off and, at times, ground planes that are flying off course.”

Vought emphasized his belief how OMB can direct the amount, duration and purpose of funding at federal agencies apportioned by Congress. He indicated in Project 2025 policy documents that he would target apportionments “signed by career officials,” noting that the OMB director "must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the president’s mind as it pertains to the policy agenda while always being ready with actual options to effect that agenda."

Vought wrote that he would instead move oversight to politically appointed program associate directors, and divide the six resource management offices into smaller subject matter areas with more appointees overseeing them. Such a change could potentially allow the White House to replace federal workers with political appointees. Trump had moved to reclassify tens of thousands of federal employees via executive order during his first administration.

Union Opposition

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing 800,000 government workers, called on lawmakers to oppose Vought’s confirmation, highlighting his first-term Trump work that targeted collective bargaining agreements and which the union says could “have effectively nullified the civil service system.”

Democrats sought to block Vought’s confirmation and held the floor of the Senate overnight to delay the vote as long as possible. 

“If the chaos of the last two weeks is any indication of what’s to come, Russell Vought will become a massive liability for Donald Trump, for Republicans and, worst of all, for the country,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in prepared remarks. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said in his remarks ahead of the vote that he expects Vought “will be able to hit the ground running "with efforts focused on cutting regulations and spending."

He added: “I know that Mr. Vought will make getting rid of burdensome regulations a priority,” he said.