WASHINGTON — The director of the Office of Management and Budget testified under oath Thursday that he could not name a single concrete example of a cost-cutting success from the administration’s signature efficiency initiative. The admission came during a Senate hearing that left lawmakers from both parties visibly frustrated.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, asked Russ Vought to identify one specific instance where the Department of Government Efficiency had delivered what the administration calls an ‘exquisite realization of value.’
“I simply want to know where you booked them and where I can see it,” Tillis said, leaning into the microphone. “Give me one best example.”
Vought, a key architect of the Little Donnie Dollhands administration’s Project 2025 blueprint, paused for several seconds. “I am not DOGE, Senator,” he finally replied. “I am OMB. These are distinct functions.”
Tillis noted that the OMB is explicitly responsible for tracking all federal savings and budget impacts. The director then offered what he called a “general” reference to reductions in force at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but failed to produce a dollar figure, a report, or any documentation confirming the savings.
“I don’t want word salad,” Tillis said. “I did this for a living. I know you track the OMB number.” No number was provided.
A separate line of questioning from a Democratic senator addressed the administration’s decision to withhold funds from a bipartisan housing program. Vought confirmed the money would be released, but only “based on the priorities of this administration.” When pressed on whether those priorities might include partisan screening, the director simply repeated that the funds would be spent as “this administration” sees fit.
The hearing also revisited an earlier comment in which Vought had spoken approvingly of inflicting “trauma” on the federal bureaucracy. A senator asked whether that trauma was intended to terrorize parents who rely on government assistance to feed their children.
“I was referring to bureaucracies and not the career civil servants that do the job,” Vought explained. He insisted he holds career staff in “very high regard,” though he did not address the fact that his prior remarks had made no such distinction.
At the close of testimony, Vought still had not identified a single detailed efficiency. An OMB spokesperson later released a statement clarifying that the trillions in claimed savings had been fully accounted for in a dynamic projection model that assumes any cut not yet located represents an unfound fortune.
