Amy Klobuchar: “along with my colleague from California and so many others tonight, I rise in opposition to the President's nomination…”

“along with my colleague from California and so many others tonight, I rise in opposition to the President's nomination of Russell Vought to lead the Office of Management and Budget. My colleagues and I are here--it is now shortly before midnight--to go through the night to make this case because this nominee has already demonstrated exactly how dangerous he would be if confirmed. We know that from the last time he worked in the Office of Management and Budget, and we know it because of his work in the last few years. And despite not even being in the office yet, he has already, through his work on Project 2025, driven a reckless budget decision that created immediate chaos and uncertainty across the country. The duty of the Office of Management and Budget Director is to assist the President of the United States in faithfully executing the laws passed by Congress. Notably, this does not include singlehandedly turning off Federal funding. It was just a few weeks ago that Donald Trump was inaugurated. And that day, as chair of the yearlong Inaugural Committee, I made the point that there are three branches of government. Otherwise, we would have had the inauguration--as in some countries--in a Presidential palace or in some gilded executive office building. In fact, that inauguration was in the Capitol for a reason, and that is because in our country we have three branches of government--three equal branches of government.…”