Questions for OMB Deputy Director Nominee Hal Duncan

On June 16th, Hal Duncan will appear before the Senate Budget Committee for a hearing on his appointment as Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). If confirmed, Duncan will be second-in-command to Director Russell Vought, who has used the office to exert immense influence over the federal government. Vought has regularly and illegally impounded congressionally appropriated funds, curbed the allocation of disaster aid and public health funding to Democratic-led states in perverse attempts at punishing political opponents, and gutted the civil service in an attempt to leave public sector workers “in trauma.” Despite largely operating in the shadows, Vought is perhaps the most effective executor of the administration’s villainous agenda (as well as having been one of its agenda’s principal architects). 

The American people deserve to know whether Duncan will work to counter this villainy, or be yet another henchman carrying out Vought and Trump’s harmful, and often illegal, policy priorities. To that end, we’ve drafted a series of questions that Duncan ought to answer under oath before any Senator even considers his nomination.

1. OMB Director Vought has been outspoken about his goal in the federal government: make life so miserable for civil servants as to leave them “in trauma.” Do you share your boss’ viewpoint towards the public sector workers that administer veteran care, social security assistance, and more?

2. It has been extremely difficult to get Russell Vought to testify before any congressional committee, or even answer written questions sent to his office, leaving the public completely in the dark about the goings on at OMB. He seems intent on avoiding congressional oversight for some reason. Will you commit to responding to letters from Congress in a timely manner and appearing before any Congressional committee that requests your presence, whether those requests are made by a Democrat or Republican?

3. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found at least seven attempts by the administration to impound congressionally appropriated funds, illegally restricting funding for Head Start, FEMA, electric vehicle infrastructure, the National Institutes of Health, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. These actions, spearheaded by OMB Director Russell Vought, represent a complete disregard for Congress as a co-equal branch of government. Even Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican chair of the Budget Committee, has taken issue with OMB’s withholding of appropriated funds. Mr. Duncan, which branch of government has the power of the purse? Do you believe OMB, and the executive branch more broadly, is legally required to execute congressional appropriations? Will you refuse to carry out unlawful orders from Russell Vought or the President to impound funds?

4. In the President’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, Russell Vought claimed that “FEMA discriminated against Americans who voted for the President in the wake of recent hurricanes, skipping over their homes when providing aid,” a completely unfounded claim that only seeks to sow division in the country. In fact, under this President, FEMA aid has become political, with Vought and Trump seeking to punish those they perceive as enemies by denying or slow-walking  disaster aid to states with Democratic governors. First, do you agree with Vought’s claim that FEMA discriminated against Americans who voted for Trump, a claim FEMA’s Office of Professional Responsibility found “no evidence” to support? Second, if confirmed, will you direct FEMA to end the weaponization of disaster aid and provide funding to Democratic-led states that meet the threshold for federal disaster assistance? Do you believe it’s appropriate to deprive citizens of certain states to settle the President’s political vendettas?

5. OMB recently issued a proposed rule on Federal Financial Assistance guidelines that require senior political appointees to conduct a “pre-issuance review” of discretionary grants to ensure they “advance the President’s policy priorities.” Aside from mandating an unnecessary, bureaucratic bottleneck that will slow down the expenditure of public funds, this will put appointees in the position to exert unprecedented political influence over the disbursement of federal grants. Do you believe federal grants should be given out for political reasons, rather than awarded in the best interests of the American people, regardless of who is President? Do you think political appointees know better than subject matter experts, scientists, and career civil servants?

6. As President of Center for Renewing America, Russell Vought criticized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as pursuing “woke public health policies” like “health equity.” After Trump’s CDC cut $600 million in public health grants for things like HIV surveillance, HIV prevention for Black women, and research into sexually transmitted diseases, it’s clear what Vought means by “woke public health policies”—anything that addresses public health issues among minority communities. Do you agree with your boss that HIV prevention is “woke”? Is it “woke” to save the lives of people affected by HIV? Do you believe that HIV prevention efforts, which have helped reduce infections by over two-thirds since the mid-1980s and saved countless lives, are worthy of public health funding? 

7. As President of Center for Renewing America, Russell Vought claimed that higher education institutions “are at the mercy of woke administrators” and are “now little more than an indoctrination camp.” He proposed budget reforms to “restore value in higher education.” The Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal grants to universities in Democratic-led states, including $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University meant for engineering, medical, and science research projects focused on issues like chemotherapy medications, how the immune system controls tuberculosis, and pandemic preparedness. Do you agree with Vought that testing and developing chemotherapy drugs for cancer patients is “woke”? Is it “woke” to research how to save the lives of people infected with tuberculosis? Is it “woke” to study the immune system’s response to prepare for possible future pandemics? Do you believe that medical research is worthy of federal funding? Do you believe that scientific research is worthy of federal funding? 

8. Under Vought’s direction, the federal government has weaponized the budget to punish states with Democratic leadership. In January, for example, the Department of Health and Human Services froze $10 billion in funding for child care and other social services in Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado. This illegal action, which looked to punish everyday Americans to settle political scores, was eventually blocked by the courts. Will you commit to end the politicization of grant making and budget disbursements, which only result in wasteful expenditures of taxpayer time and money as citizens and states have to file lawsuit after lawsuit to stop the illegal actions?