[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 36 (Wednesday, February 28, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1267-S1268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NOMINATION OF RUSSELL VOUGHT

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, Mr. Russell Vought is nominated to be the 
Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. My view is, he 
has radically misguided budget priorities. He has long opposed 
bipartisan compromise. I am especially concerned about his well-
documented history of inflammatory rhetoric. If confirmed, he would be 
the point person in charge of the President's budget. He is on record 
supporting an extreme fiscal strategy--one that would really threaten 
the full faith and credit of the country by engaging in debt ceiling 
brinkmanship, but I also oppose Mr. Vought's nomination because of his 
extreme vote on the budget and refusal to reach across party lines.
  So we have an obligation to look at his extreme views, especially his 
vitriolic comments he has made, and to consider them among the recent 
examples of individuals who made similar comments and were deemed unfit 
for service.
  Carl Higbie, a Trump surrogate during the 2016 campaign, was 
appointed as chief of external affairs at the Corporation for National 
and Community Service. He resigned from his taxpayer-funded post in 
shame after his history of hateful, bigoted rhetoric was brought to 
light. That history included saying he didn't like Muslims because he 
hated their religious ideology and even flatly admitted he was proud to 
be a racist if it meant being against Muslims.

  Rev. Jamie Johnson was appointed last April to lead the Center for 
Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. He, too, resigned in 
disgrace after media reports drew scrutiny to his use of racist 
rhetoric. During a 2008 interview, he said that African Americans had 
``turned America's major cities into slums because of laziness, drug 
use, and sexual promiscuity.'' He also said extremist terrorist groups 
were representative of all people of the Muslim faith.
  For a person taking a job intended to promote partnerships, it was 
certainly important to call his job performance into question.
  William Bradford was appointed to lead the Energy Department's Office 
of Indian Energy in 2017. He resigned after the media drew attention to 
comments

[[Page S1268]]

he made calling for the military to target Muslim women and children 
and equating American colleges to ``Jihadi training camps.''
  None of these individuals resigned because of their religion. In the 
United States--and I feel this so deeply--every person is free to 
practice the religion of their choosing and hold any and all beliefs. 
The reason these three individuals resigned from their positions was 
because their intolerant comments cast serious doubt on whether they 
were capable of working on behalf of all Americans.
  That brings me to Mr. Vought's nomination. He has a long history of 
using inflammatory rhetoric to demonize his political opponents, and he 
just seems to abhor compromise. He has said that if Republicans fail 
``to beat back the forces of the left,'' then ``we will lose our 
country to tyranny.'' Addressing a group of conservative activists in 
2014, he said: ``The left increasingly elects ideological storm 
troopers to Congress.'' After he was nominated, the American Civil 
Liberties Union criticized his nomination because he had previously 
claimed that Muslims had a ``deficient theology'' and flatly stated 
that all Muslims ``stand condemned.''
  When I met with Mr. Vought, I asked him to clarify his inflammatory 
rhetoric. I always think it is important to give somebody a chance to 
break from the past, and I hoped to hear a softer approach. He chose to 
stand by what he said. In fact, he doubled down.
  So I will close with this. In my view, nothing should have changed in 
the time since Mr. Higby, Reverend Johnson, and Mr. Bradford resigned 
in shame. This incendiary, vitriolic rhetoric is disqualifying.
  One of the first requirements of nominees for public office is to 
respect Americans from all walks of life. This is true when you are 
talking about a position like the OMB Deputy Director which holds 
enormous influence over the Federal budget. Mr. Vought has a clear, 
documented record of disrespecting and demonizing those who think 
differently than he does, and I consider that disqualifying.
  This administration may tolerate those who spew vile rhetoric, and 
maybe they believe it is right to reward them with powerful roles in 
government, but the Senate does not have an obligation to let the 
standards of decency and tolerance degrade in this manner.
  For this reason, I oppose the Vought nomination.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.

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