'We Will Be Asking Tough Questions': Russell Vought Laces Into Jerome Powell Over Fed Renovations

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OMB Director Russell Vought spoke with reporters on Friday outside of the White House.

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00:00Look, we have substantial questions with the testimony they gave to the Hill in

00:20response to questions about the building. He has articulated that there

00:24have been material changes to the National Capital Planning proposal

00:28that was approved. And so we want to get to the bottom of his statements as

00:34compared to the various parts of the plan. That was the nature of my letter

00:38yesterday. Those are the types of questions that the commission will be

00:43asking in the coming weeks.

00:51This is about the renovations that are occurring, the extent to which they

00:57are largesse. The cost that we're talking about is now 2.5 billion. If you look at the

01:03actual Palace of Versailles, if you were to update those figures for where we in

01:09modern numbers, it would be three billion dollars. The capital was about two and a

01:14half billion dollars from all of its different buildings from the founding of

01:18the country to 1982. Uh, you look at the biggest buildings across the world and

01:25this is approaching that level. I mean, it probably had to qualify as one of the

01:29eight wonders of the ancient world if you were able to go back that far. And

01:35ultimately, when did that ever go through a review by a democratic body? And so this is

01:42the National Capital Planning Commission will now have an opportunity to ask some

01:47tough questions of the Fed. We will be asking tough questions with regard to the

01:51Fed. But this is about the president being offended at cost overruns. He's a

01:57developer and the size of this project is something that, you know, should never

02:03come forward. What's that? So we have us our first rescissions package up on

02:12Congress. We had a great vote in the House. We have a second vote next week. I am

02:17confident that they will pass the bill. I'll be up there on Tuesday to answer any

02:22additional questions. I've already answered many questions on this front. But we

02:27think it's a very important step for Congress to show that they are willing to

02:31pass the doge cuts. People say, why is it a $9 billion package? It's a $9 billion

02:37package because we want to see is Congress serious about that. Senator Kennedy has

02:42had some some incredible floor speeches on this very issue. Is Congress serious

02:48about passing and making the doge cuts permanent? Or are we going to have to

02:52continue to use our executive tools on that? The president put out a great truth

02:57social last night, the extent to which we have been talking in this town as

03:02conservatives, as Republicans, about defunding Corporation for Public

03:05Broadcasting for a very long time. We are now on the verge of being able to do

03:10that. And it's important that we finally take that opportunity and not fall back in

03:15the time of the tired old excuses that have defended that program for so long.

03:20What about the president of the Fed? You didn't quite answer this question. Does the president want to see the Fed still operating potentially?

03:26Because I think the question is immaterial. The president has a policy view with

03:29regard to we need lower rates. He has a policy view with regard to the fact that

03:34Jerome Powell has been late repeatedly. The Fed has been mismanaged. You look at the

03:40fact that they have been taking deficits since 2023 for the first time since 1916.

03:46And then you look and you have this incredible spectacle on the nation's

03:52mall of largesse that we can't afford as a country. People will be offended if they

03:58came and they're going around checking out all the monuments and they see what is

04:02occurring. Then they go behind the Ethels building and they see the Martin

04:07building which is complete and I know they are often in my duties as CFPB

04:10director and you see the extent to which it is is is massive. There's art fine

04:18artwork everywhere and it's it's it is offensive to taxpayers and we're not

04:24getting remittances from the Fed ever since 2023 and that's hurting our our

04:29deficit. That's that's that's creating a situation where we have higher interest

04:34costs as a country and it's just a series of mismanagement. So I know you guys

04:38want to make it more about a metaphysical question about the

04:41independence of the Fed. This is about the extent to which this building this

04:46renovation project is horrifying from a cost perspective and in our

04:51administration both OMB the National Capital Planning Commission which now has

04:56three new commissioners and as of yesterday is going to be asking it is

05:00asking very very tough questions.

05:06Those are those are announcements that he will make at the appropriate time when

05:13he's ready to do it. Is there anyone that you would like to see potentially

05:16those are the president's Trump supporters around the country want to see wasteful

05:20spending. What can they do to help you? Well look we have a great opportunity on the

05:26hill next week with regard to this $9.4 billion package. It's only $9.4 billion.

05:32People ask why is it only $9.4 billion? It's that because we know how close of a

05:38vote it was in the House and we know we have a tight margin in the Senate but that

05:42that margin has to produce a victory. We have other rescissions packages that we

05:49will send if we have a good vote and that will continue. You know when I went

05:53through confirmation people said well Russ you have an Empowerment Control Act.

05:56They knew that we're skeptic skeptics of it. We're not huge fans of it but they

06:02said there's a process for for for using these are Democrats. These are

06:06Republicans that were on the Appropriations Committee. So why wouldn't

06:09you use the rescission package approach? Well we're doing that. We're sending

06:13bills up on that and now we hear an argument that if you use the tools that

06:17are outlined in the ICA that somehow you're renegotiating the

06:21appropriations process or any agreement. That is that's the kind of

06:25thinking the arguments that have caused us to never make any progress in this

06:28town. I think next week may be a huge pivot point in how this this town does

06:33business and will be an exciting milestone to be able to make actual

06:40permanent reductions to some of these savings that we've identified as an

06:44administration since its beginning.

06:48Is this really about wasteful spending or is this about

06:50managing the bed? Because I mean the one big beautiful bill for instance it

06:51included 85 million dollars in the space shuttle from DC to use it. So is this

06:56about pressuring the bed or is it actually about wasteful spending?

07:00Phil the the one big beautiful bill reduced deficits even on a static basis by 400

07:07billion dollars. There was 1.5 trillion dollars in mandatory savings. We haven't had

07:12anything like that since 1997. In 1997 savings levels adjusted for inflation

07:17were only 800 billion dollars. So to say that the one big beautiful bill was not

07:21anything but an enormous improvement on spending on debt and deficits and in the

07:27same vein of all of the things this administration is doing we are taking a

07:32distinct look at what is occurring on the national law with regard to this Fed and

07:38we will continue to do that.

07:42So that's about next steps for the other three for a moment on the outside

07:44and to see the same part of moving forward.

07:46What else do you see? What else do you expect from other agencies?

07:50Are there any agencies in South and High to report from the search of

07:54government to be honest on it?

07:56So every agency head is going to be you know reviewing the the decision. I'm doing it

08:01from my standpoint at the CFPB although I'm not yet covered by it. I have my own

08:06litigation hell that I'm in with regard to the the judicial restraints that they put on our

08:12ability. We can't even cancel contracts at the CFPB let alone use our reduction force

08:18statutes to lower the footprint of the agency that's been weaponized against the American people.

08:22So every agency head is going to be doing that. There's not kind of a macro answer to

08:27what that will occur but certainly it was a great decision. The Supreme Court

08:30affirmed what we knew to be the case with regard to the law.

08:33The President is revamping the Rose Garden for a second time. He's overhauling a 747

08:40spending billions of dollars when it's only going to be used as Air Force One for possibly a year.

08:44Are you concerned about that spending too?

08:46We have a lot of administration priorities and I hope what you've learned from our

08:51first term this term. We need to spend in areas. We need ships. We need aircraft. We need a new

08:59presidential plane that's that's been in the works and been delayed for a long time because

09:05contractors are behind and so that doesn't mean we don't spend where we need to spend but we've

09:11always offered up a fiscal picture that gets to balance that reduces the deficit that deals with

09:18our debt and we're doing it on a host of in a host of ways in this term and so that won't change.

09:23So we will continue to you know we sent up a budget that was 163 billion dollars

09:29in cuts to non-defense discretionary spending. We also asked for sizable increase to the border.

09:36We need to spend in certain areas to secure the country to perform the functions of the government

09:42and to make sure that you know we are investing where we need to invest invest but that doesn't mean

09:47that it's in any way inconsistent with an effort to be able to have reduced efforts and lower debt.

09:56But that plane in particular is going to be used for such a short period of time. Is it really worth

10:01the expense? We need additional assets to be able to run this government including fly the president,

10:08keep the president safe and we're way behind in that program and those are the kinds of ideas that flow

10:14from the contractor and other contractors being behind and we're going to look for any opportunity

10:18to do that. Is there anything you want to tell you about FEMA's spending? Is the administration

10:22still looking at potentially phasing help now?

10:25FEMA has 13 billion dollars in its reserves right now to continue to pay for the necessary expenses.

10:35The president has said to Texas it needs everything anything it needs it will get. The president will be

10:40down there surveying the scene and you know we also want FEMA to be reformed. We want the FEMA to work

10:49well and you know the president is going to continue to you know be asking tough questions of all of his

10:55agencies no different than than than any other opportunity to have better government and and fiscal sound

11:04management.

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