Ending unchecked spending with the One Big Beautiful Bill Image By Russell Vought This is a lightly edited excerpt of testimony recently provided to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Appropriations Budget Hearing - Office of Management and Budget by the OMB director. Over the past four months, the Office of Management and Budget, or OMB, has worked tirelessly to deliver on President Trump’s promise of a federal government that works for the American people, not bureaucrats and the entrenched establishment. Under the previous Administration, government spending aggressively turned against our citizens, who saw their tax dollars used to fund cultural Marxism, the Green New Scam, foreign projects unaligned with American interests, and even our own invasion. Every agency became a tool of the Left. Under President Trump, those days are over. The President’s FY 2026 Budget, in tandem with the One Big Beautiful Bill and other tools this Administration has at its disposal, will finally end the era of unchecked Federal spending, stop the weaponization of government, and turbocharge economic growth. The focus of FY 2026 budget The FY 2026 Budget puts American citizens first, and shifts the destructive paradigm that ruled Washington for decades — that we could only fund national and border security if we massively funded the woke and weaponized bureaucracy coveted by Democrats. The President’s Budget reduces non-defense spending by $163 billion, 22.6% below current-year levels and the lowest non-defense level since 2017 — considering inflation, this is the lowest level of non-defense spending we’ve seen in 25 years — all while we protect funding for national defense, homeland security, veterans, seniors, law enforcement, and infrastructure. Over 10 years, such restraint would generate trillions in savings, necessary for delivering on President Trump’s goal of balancing the budget. The Budget also incorporates the historic increases for defense and border security that will be provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill currently making its way through Congress. In combination with base appropriations, the One Big Beautiful Bill is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to revolutionize our nation’s defense capabilities and protect American sovereignty, providing the first-ever $1 trillion defense budget and the single largest investment in border security in our nation’s history. New tax policies to provide relief and economic growth The One Big Beautiful Bill also improves our fiscal trajectory by reducing mandatory spending by roughly $1.7 trillion — the largest mandatory spending reduction in history — ending waste, fraud, and abuse, and preserving critical programs. Along with the extension of President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and new tax policies to provide additional relief to working- and middle-class families and our seniors, the One Big Beautiful Bill will drive massive economic growth, raising GDP and increasing wealth across the board. OMB’s FY 2026 budget request is critical to supporting the comprehensive fiscal strategy this Administration is implementing. The full request is $155.776 million for OMB. OMB is a personnel-intensive agency. We are asking for 20 additional FTEs (full-time equivalents), which would bring us from 500 to 520 in OMB, and an additional two FTEs in OFCIO, reaching 36 FTEs. I will note that OMB’s request is substantially below the increase requested by the legislative branch’s GAO. OMB’s funding level has remained essentially flat since FY 2023. By contrast, under GAO’s request for FY 2026, the agency would receive an overall increase of 17% over three years. With the President’s Budget, the One Big Beautiful Bill, historic tariff revenue, the recently transmitted $9.4 billion rescissions package, our deregulatory efforts, and other key tools, this Administration is implementing a comprehensive strategy to improve the nation’s fiscal state. Read his full statement here. Listen to his testimony before the Appropriations Committee here. Russell Vought is the 44th director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought previously served as Deputy Director and Acting Director prior to his confirmation as 42nd Director of OMB in July 2020. In his role, he is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the President’s policy, management and regulatory agendas across the Executive Branch. *The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of HealthPlatform.News.
