Vought was confirmed on a party-line vote of 53-47 after Democrats had exhausted their only remaining tool to stonewall a nomination — holding the Senate floor.

Although Democrats have been divided on various Trump nominees, they have unified in their opposition to Vought.

Vought’s return to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which he also helmed during Trump’s first term, would put him in a role that holds key power in implementing the president’s goals.

Democrats fought the OMB nominee's confirmation, elevating a little-known agency head to the national spotlight amid larger anxieties about the fate of congressional spending authority.

Mr. Vought, an architect of Project 2025 who served in the first Trump administration, will be at the center of President Trump’s plans to upend the federal bureaucracy.

Russ Vought, a hard-charging fiscal and social conservative with a passion for downsizing government, became President Donald Trump’s budget director for the second time Thursday when the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed him on a party-line vote.

The US Senate on Thursday confirmed Russell Vought as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the entity at the center of a contentious effort to freeze federal funding for aid programs.