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'We Will Be Asking Tough Questions': Russell Vought Laces Into Jerome Powell Over Fed Renovations
Forbes Breaking News
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6 days ago
OMB Director Russell Vought spoke with reporters on Friday outside of the White House.
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00:00
Look, we have substantial questions with the testimony they gave to the Hill in
00:20
response to questions about the building. He has articulated that there
00:24
have been material changes to the National Capital Planning proposal
00:28
that was approved. And so we want to get to the bottom of his statements as
00:34
compared to the various parts of the plan. That was the nature of my letter
00:38
yesterday. Those are the types of questions that the commission will be
00:43
asking in the coming weeks.
00:51
This is about the renovations that are occurring, the extent to which they
00:57
are largesse. The cost that we're talking about is now 2.5 billion. If you look at the
01:03
actual Palace of Versailles, if you were to update those figures for where we in
01:09
modern numbers, it would be three billion dollars. The capital was about two and a
01:14
half billion dollars from all of its different buildings from the founding of
01:18
the country to 1982. Uh, you look at the biggest buildings across the world and
01:25
this is approaching that level. I mean, it probably had to qualify as one of the
01:29
eight wonders of the ancient world if you were able to go back that far. And
01:35
ultimately, when did that ever go through a review by a democratic body? And so this is
01:42
the National Capital Planning Commission will now have an opportunity to ask some
01:47
tough questions of the Fed. We will be asking tough questions with regard to the
01:51
Fed. But this is about the president being offended at cost overruns. He's a
01:57
developer and the size of this project is something that, you know, should never
02:03
come forward. What's that? So we have us our first rescissions package up on
02:12
Congress. We had a great vote in the House. We have a second vote next week. I am
02:17
confident that they will pass the bill. I'll be up there on Tuesday to answer any
02:22
additional questions. I've already answered many questions on this front. But we
02:27
think it's a very important step for Congress to show that they are willing to
02:31
pass the doge cuts. People say, why is it a $9 billion package? It's a $9 billion
02:37
package because we want to see is Congress serious about that. Senator Kennedy has
02:42
had some some incredible floor speeches on this very issue. Is Congress serious
02:48
about passing and making the doge cuts permanent? Or are we going to have to
02:52
continue to use our executive tools on that? The president put out a great truth
02:57
social last night, the extent to which we have been talking in this town as
03:02
conservatives, as Republicans, about defunding Corporation for Public
03:05
Broadcasting for a very long time. We are now on the verge of being able to do
03:10
that. And it's important that we finally take that opportunity and not fall back in
03:15
the time of the tired old excuses that have defended that program for so long.
03:20
What about the president of the Fed? You didn't quite answer this question. Does the president want to see the Fed still operating potentially?
03:26
Because I think the question is immaterial. The president has a policy view with
03:29
regard to we need lower rates. He has a policy view with regard to the fact that
03:34
Jerome Powell has been late repeatedly. The Fed has been mismanaged. You look at the
03:40
fact that they have been taking deficits since 2023 for the first time since 1916.
03:46
And then you look and you have this incredible spectacle on the nation's
03:52
mall of largesse that we can't afford as a country. People will be offended if they
03:58
came and they're going around checking out all the monuments and they see what is
04:02
occurring. Then they go behind the Ethels building and they see the Martin
04:07
building which is complete and I know they are often in my duties as CFPB
04:10
director and you see the extent to which it is is is massive. There's art fine
04:18
artwork everywhere and it's it's it is offensive to taxpayers and we're not
04:24
getting remittances from the Fed ever since 2023 and that's hurting our our
04:29
deficit. That's that's that's creating a situation where we have higher interest
04:34
costs as a country and it's just a series of mismanagement. So I know you guys
04:38
want to make it more about a metaphysical question about the
04:41
independence of the Fed. This is about the extent to which this building this
04:46
renovation project is horrifying from a cost perspective and in our
04:51
administration both OMB the National Capital Planning Commission which now has
04:56
three new commissioners and as of yesterday is going to be asking it is
05:00
asking very very tough questions.
05:06
Those are those are announcements that he will make at the appropriate time when
05:13
he's ready to do it. Is there anyone that you would like to see potentially
05:16
those are the president's Trump supporters around the country want to see wasteful
05:20
spending. What can they do to help you? Well look we have a great opportunity on the
05:26
hill next week with regard to this $9.4 billion package. It's only $9.4 billion.
05:32
People ask why is it only $9.4 billion? It's that because we know how close of a
05:38
vote it was in the House and we know we have a tight margin in the Senate but that
05:42
that margin has to produce a victory. We have other rescissions packages that we
05:49
will send if we have a good vote and that will continue. You know when I went
05:53
through confirmation people said well Russ you have an Empowerment Control Act.
05:56
They knew that we're skeptic skeptics of it. We're not huge fans of it but they
06:02
said there's a process for for for using these are Democrats. These are
06:06
Republicans that were on the Appropriations Committee. So why wouldn't
06:09
you use the rescission package approach? Well we're doing that. We're sending
06:13
bills up on that and now we hear an argument that if you use the tools that
06:17
are outlined in the ICA that somehow you're renegotiating the
06:21
appropriations process or any agreement. That is that's the kind of
06:25
thinking the arguments that have caused us to never make any progress in this
06:28
town. I think next week may be a huge pivot point in how this this town does
06:33
business and will be an exciting milestone to be able to make actual
06:40
permanent reductions to some of these savings that we've identified as an
06:44
administration since its beginning.
06:48
Is this really about wasteful spending or is this about
06:50
managing the bed? Because I mean the one big beautiful bill for instance it
06:51
included 85 million dollars in the space shuttle from DC to use it. So is this
06:56
about pressuring the bed or is it actually about wasteful spending?
07:00
Phil the the one big beautiful bill reduced deficits even on a static basis by 400
07:07
billion dollars. There was 1.5 trillion dollars in mandatory savings. We haven't had
07:12
anything like that since 1997. In 1997 savings levels adjusted for inflation
07:17
were only 800 billion dollars. So to say that the one big beautiful bill was not
07:21
anything but an enormous improvement on spending on debt and deficits and in the
07:27
same vein of all of the things this administration is doing we are taking a
07:32
distinct look at what is occurring on the national law with regard to this Fed and
07:38
we will continue to do that.
07:42
So that's about next steps for the other three for a moment on the outside
07:44
and to see the same part of moving forward.
07:46
What else do you see? What else do you expect from other agencies?
07:50
Are there any agencies in South and High to report from the search of
07:54
government to be honest on it?
07:56
So every agency head is going to be you know reviewing the the decision. I'm doing it
08:01
from my standpoint at the CFPB although I'm not yet covered by it. I have my own
08:06
litigation hell that I'm in with regard to the the judicial restraints that they put on our
08:12
ability. We can't even cancel contracts at the CFPB let alone use our reduction force
08:18
statutes to lower the footprint of the agency that's been weaponized against the American people.
08:22
So every agency head is going to be doing that. There's not kind of a macro answer to
08:27
what that will occur but certainly it was a great decision. The Supreme Court
08:30
affirmed what we knew to be the case with regard to the law.
08:33
The President is revamping the Rose Garden for a second time. He's overhauling a 747
08:40
spending billions of dollars when it's only going to be used as Air Force One for possibly a year.
08:44
Are you concerned about that spending too?
08:46
We have a lot of administration priorities and I hope what you've learned from our
08:51
first term this term. We need to spend in areas. We need ships. We need aircraft. We need a new
08:59
presidential plane that's that's been in the works and been delayed for a long time because
09:05
contractors are behind and so that doesn't mean we don't spend where we need to spend but we've
09:11
always offered up a fiscal picture that gets to balance that reduces the deficit that deals with
09:18
our debt and we're doing it on a host of in a host of ways in this term and so that won't change.
09:23
So we will continue to you know we sent up a budget that was 163 billion dollars
09:29
in cuts to non-defense discretionary spending. We also asked for sizable increase to the border.
09:36
We need to spend in certain areas to secure the country to perform the functions of the government
09:42
and to make sure that you know we are investing where we need to invest invest but that doesn't mean
09:47
that it's in any way inconsistent with an effort to be able to have reduced efforts and lower debt.
09:56
But that plane in particular is going to be used for such a short period of time. Is it really worth
10:01
the expense? We need additional assets to be able to run this government including fly the president,
10:08
keep the president safe and we're way behind in that program and those are the kinds of ideas that flow
10:14
from the contractor and other contractors being behind and we're going to look for any opportunity
10:18
to do that. Is there anything you want to tell you about FEMA's spending? Is the administration
10:22
still looking at potentially phasing help now?
10:25
FEMA has 13 billion dollars in its reserves right now to continue to pay for the necessary expenses.
10:35
The president has said to Texas it needs everything anything it needs it will get. The president will be
10:40
down there surveying the scene and you know we also want FEMA to be reformed. We want the FEMA to work
10:49
well and you know the president is going to continue to you know be asking tough questions of all of his
10:55
agencies no different than than than any other opportunity to have better government and and fiscal sound
11:04
management.
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