Civil Rights Coalition Denounces Confirmation of Russell Vought as OMB Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McNeil, [email protected] 

WASHINGTON — Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after the Senate confirmed Russell Vought to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB):

“Communities across the nation deserve access to the federal programs Congress has funded, including early childhood programs like Head Start, health care programs like Medicaid, nutritional programs like SNAP, and housing programs that help veterans and other populations. We deserve a federal government that works for everyone, but Senate Republicans just installed the architect of Project 2025 into one of the most critical positions in the executive branch. Russell Vought, who will now administer the federal budget as the head of OMB, is unfit for this role and holds dangerous views about presidential power — seeking to steal the powers our Constitution confers on Congress and the courts. The intentional chaos and cruelty he sows has already caused significant harm. By his design, some critical federal funding remains frozen, which threatens to interfere with the delivery of crucial programs and jeopardizes families’ access to housing, health care, education, and other essential services. He’s also behind proposed ‘Schedule F’ reforms, which would shamefully force tens of thousands of workers who are doing their jobs as public servants — including in agencies that protect civil rights — to serve the president’s political aims instead of serving the public interest. Any individual with such a deep hostility to civil servants should have already been disqualified from serving in this position.

“As the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights coalition that has worked to secure passage of the landmark civil rights laws that have moved our country forward, The Leadership Conference is clear eyed: The proposals contained within Vought’s Project 2025, much of which is already underway, threatens to wipe away decades of progress our coalition has fought to make real. Those senators who supported this confirmation are complicit. This anti-civil rights agenda — one that benefits white nationalists and the rich and powerful over everyone else — must be rejected, even if senators couldn’t muster the courage to reject one of its chief authors.

“We are dismayed by recent confirmations of individuals by this Senate majority and urge all senators to take seriously their constitutional obligation to evaluate the president’s nominees and to fight for our democracy and our communities. Someone with Mr. Vought’s alarming record, stunning support for the president’s abuses of power, and willingness to abdicate the government’s responsibility to the people it serves should never have even been nominated. It is now up to senators to show up for their constituents and the Constitution by rejecting Trump’s dangerous nominees and fighting against the damage that is being inflicted on the institutions whose missions are to serve all people in America.”

Resources

• The Leadership Conference joined this letter opposing the nomination of Russell Vought to be director of OMB.
• The Leadership Conference also joined this letter opposing the nomination of Russell Vought to be director of OMB in the wake of the recent actions taken by OMB.
• For more on Project 2025 and what’s at stake for civil rights, click here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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