On Sunday, White House Budget Director Russ Vought appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper to discuss spending reductions, budget deficits, the debt, and the Fed. Some key excerpts follow:
First, Mr. Vought offered some views on Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
.@WHOMB Director @russvought: "We believe on a host of fronts, Chairman Powell has been too late — and the President is doing what the President should do, which is get out there and articulate those views on behalf of the American people." pic.twitter.com/hKjnMTOS4W
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 27, 2025
Mr. Vought said:
The president has been very clear about that, he says he has no intention of firing the Fed chairman, he is putting his viewpoints out there with regard to what interest rates should be, which dramatically lower than where they are. And of course we were up there visiting the renovations and kind of getting a first-hand look ourselves for the extent to which it's been mismanaged. It's a host of issues with regard to the Fed, they've gone negative in the terms of the profit-loss over the last several years. We don't get those remittances into the federal treasury... We believe in a host of fronts. Chairman Powell has been too late and the president is doing what the president should do, which is get out there and articulate the views on behalf of the America people.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), among others, has been pushing for an audit of the Fed for some time now; this would appear to be the time and the administration to get that done. As far as that renovation goes, if only there were someone in the federal government with some knowledge of managing and renovating commercial real estate.
Mr. Vought continued on that topic:
.@WHOMB Director @russvought: "The patience that the President has demonstrated towards Chairman Powell is, in fact, a defense of that independence [of the Fed] ... but we also have to articulate the views of the American people." pic.twitter.com/VmUisbYTY9
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 27, 2025
Mr. Vought said:
No, I think in fact the patience that the president has demonstrated towards Chairman Powell is in fact a defense of that independence. To have Secretary Bessent out there talking about the independence of the Fed, but we also have to articulate the views of the American people and the president with regard to needing lower interest rates and not having a largesse (unclear) on the National Mall. So, there's a lot of things that need to occur, and again, the Fed isn't independent with regard to its regulatory affairs. It's supposed to go through the cost-benefit analysis that all so-called independent agencies go through. They are not doing that. And so these are the kinds of things we have to do to make sure that these issues are understood and made aware to the country.
An audit is clearly in order. There's an argument to be made for doing away with the Fed altogether, but that's an argument for another time. For now, it would be more than enough for the American people to know precisely what shape the Fed is in, how bad its cost-benefit picture is, and what can be done about it.
The last two excerpts have to do with the federal budget, deficits, and the national debt:
.@WHOMB Director @russvought: "Appropriators want a scenario where we propose cuts and they use that in their bills to then pay down for higher levels of spending. We're $37 trillion in debt. We actually have to have a dollar of cut go to a dollar of deficit reduction." pic.twitter.com/LyJnl7J5Ce
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 27, 2025
Mr. Vought:
Look, the appropriators want a scenario where we propose cuts and they use that in their bills to then pay down for higher levels of spending. We're $37 trillion in debt. We actually have to have a dollar of cut go to a dollar of deficit reduction. That's really what this is about, and we ultimately think it makes the appropriations process work better, because you can then have bipartisan votes on top-line levels.
And if an agency comes along and says, look, we're finding waste and garbage that the taxpayers wouldn't want to spend, then we can send those up for rescissions.
This gets a little confusing, as it seems as though Mr. Vought is conflating budget deficits with the national debt. Granted, the one leads to the other, but it would be helpful to clearly delineate which disaster we're discussing - deficits in the annual budgets, or the catastrophic national debt. A dollar of cut can go to a dollar of deficit reduction, and indeed it should, but as a nation, we need to have a discussion about that $37 trillion in debt.
And:
.@WHOMB Director @russvought: "The moves that we are making as an economic team under President Trump's leadership will lead to about a third of what's necessary to balance the budget ... That's just in our [first] six months." pic.twitter.com/Woeu4xew30
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 27, 2025
Mr, Vought:
No, the CBO was using artificial baselines that treat spending as eternal and tax relief that was in law since 2017 to be temporary. And so, if you adjust for that -- and the bill does have additional tax relief, of which we paid for with spending reductions. This bill reduces deficits and will help us with the national debt. Overall, the moves that we are making as an economic team under President Trump's leadership will lead to about a third of what's necessary to balance the budget, given the numbers that you just articulated.
That's just in our six months, when you talk about the tariff revenues that are coming in, $3 trillion. CBO believes the same numbers that we have. And, again, those are in advance of a number of the trade agreements that we're talking about over the next several weeks.
So we're making big moves, and I think the country is going to come alongside of us and see the progress that we're making.
It's an ambitious course the Trump administration has plotted. In fact, it's considerably more ambitious than what the president managed in his first term. But the proof, as they say, is in the pudding, and while the initial indications are good for the American economy, it's a little early to get too happy.
Read More: There's Another Big, Beautiful Bill in the Works: What Might Be in It?
Audit the Fed. Then let's talk about that $37 trillion in debt.
You can view the entire CNN interview here.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and bold policies, America’s economy is back on track.
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