Of all the President's nominees, none have gotten the reaction from the Senate Democrats like Russ Vought going through the confirmation process for the directorship of the Office of Management and Budget. 

Oh, there have been episodes of drama, memes of all the angry faces of Senate Democratic women losing their mind during their seven-minute question time in many different confirmation hearings for other Trump nominees, but Vought's confirmation has been a singular moment thus far, a line in the sand by Senate progressives. And now we are learning why. 

Thanks to the Late Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer in 2013, exercising what came to be known as the nuclear option, closure on presidential appointments and nominations moved from a 60-vote threshold to a simple majority. Once cloture is attained, there are 30 hours of floor debate, then final confirmation...or not, unless there is sufficient support as to obtain unanimous consent or a quick voice vote. The 30-hour rule has been deployed against every one of Trump's nominees thus far except for Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He received a 99-0 vote without any delay on Inauguration Day. 

In the case of Vought going to OMB, the Senate Democrats used their 30-hours to hold the floor and actually protest around-the-clock in speeches. One after another took to the well of the upper chamber to rail against the coming apocalypse if this nominee were able to get through. It was all performative art. Vought had the votes, and everyone knew it. Democrats just made this person their pinata for MSNBC and CNN. Why? Because of the Consumer Finance Product Bureau.

Vought did get confirmed on Thursday, sworn in by a very busy Justice Clarence Thomas on Friday. And even before sitting down at this desk, the controversy began. 

Vought's alma mater is Wheaton College, the Christian College in the western burbs of Chicago. It has a wonderful reputation through the years, but revealed over the weekend they have a severe woke problem of late. Here is their first tweet upon the confirmation of one of their alumni to the most important position in government to date. 

Like many others, I was pleasantly surprised and encouraged when @WheatonCollege offered a warm and prayerful commendation of @russvought. pic.twitter.com/kA9lnlCDIP

— David Schrock🌲 (@DavidSchrock) February 8, 2025

Sure, they've become a lefty institution, but at least they got the core stuff right. Congratulating an alum, and being a Christian college and all, praying for him seems the least they can do...until the woke mob comes for them. By Friday afternoon, Wheaton leadership had decided praying for another Christian, one that graduated from their college, went a step to far. They deleted the tweet. They disappeared the congratulations, and deleted the call for prayer. Never mind, God. 

This is ridiculous - @WheatonCollege had it right the first time. @russvought is a highly accomplished alumni who should be celebrated. It’s absurd that the smallest minority of detractors come away victorious yet again. pic.twitter.com/epKWfPP3uT

— Senator Eric Schmitt (@SenEricSchmitt) February 8, 2025

They bent the knee - not to God, but to the progressive mob. Or did they? As of Monday morning, a review of Wheaton College's X feed indicates they have removed the tweet announcing the removal of the previous tweet. All of this has not gone unnoticed by our friends at Hillsdale College.

Trigger warning: We will not be deleting our earlier post congratulating @RussVought. https://t.co/y9NPI8ua23

— Hillsdale College (@Hillsdale) February 8, 2025

Prayers and congratulations or not, we learned Saturday why the left was so worried about Russ Vought as the hammer came down on the CFPB. The brainchild of Chief Elizabeth Warren in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the Bureau was created to be an independent agency outside the controls of both the Executive Branch and Congress, a seeming Constitutional nightmare from the offset. It was spun up in 2011, a year after Dodd-Frank Act passed, and Chief Warren herself was positioned to be its first director. Alas, she was deemed to controversial and radical, and Richard Cordray became its first director. So why is it a Constitutional nightmare? 

Its budget is not obtained yearly through the Congressional appropriations process. It is the one institution that gets a direct injection of cash from the Federal Reserve. There is no accountability or brakes on how much money it can request. There are not oversight hearings. It was not invented to just be another pig in the trough, it was invented to have its own trough all to itself. As to what its mission is, it's evolved quite rapidly. It was purportedly meant to protect consumers from predatory lending and financial practices. It has become a nebulous institution that nobody really knows much about. But curiously, a lot of people in this country, especially those on the right, seem to be experiencing a phenomenon called debanking. Donald Trump talked about that during his video call to the World Economic Forum in Davos last month. It all traces back to CFPB.

In a Supreme Court case last year, the Consumer Finance Product Bureau V. Community Financial Services Association of America, the Constitutionality of CFPB's funding and lack of oversight was directly challenged. It survived, not because the Court liked it, but because Congress passed something dumb. In a 7-2 decision, it was found that an agency can be bad, but that doesn't mean it's unconstitutional. In Sam Alito's dissent, however, this is what he warned. 

"In sum, the CFPB's unprecedented combination of funding features affords it the very kind of financial independence that the Appropriations Clause was designed to prevent. It is not an exaggeration to say that the CFPB enjoys a degree of financial autonomy that a Stuart king would envy."

Saturday night, as part of his duties as OMB director, Vought is to facilitate the funding requests from quarter to quarter by the Fed to replenish the coffers of CFPB. He's the federal human resources department and chief operating officer rolled into one. His request for the 3rd quarter, being that Former sentient President Joe Biden's director already covered them through the 2nd quarter? Please provide...$0 dollars. 

Pursuant to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, I have notified the Federal Reserve that CFPB will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding because it is not "reasonably necessary" to carry out its duties. The Bureau's current balance of $711.6 million is in fact…

— Russ Vought (@russvought) February 9, 2025

He followed that up over the weekend by this directive to the staff of CFPB. Do absolutely nothing unless you have written permission by this office to do so. Nothing. 

The latest on the CFPB: Russ Vought sent an email to employees this morning telling them to "not perform any work tasks" this week — and to get written approval if they do any work. More here: https://t.co/89BpRnbFfy

— Ayelet Sheffey (@arsheffey) February 10, 2025

This is nothing short of revolutionary. And in this case, revolution is a very, very good thing. When is the last time you saw a federal agency, any federal agency outside of the Pentagon, that had any meaningful cuts or reduction in scope and size? Again, you're going to hear the wailing and moaning on the left about how the sharks in the financial industry will now feed on all us consumers. Nonsense. This agency was born out of a financial panic, created to become a slush fund of the left, and has been wielded as a financial weapon used in a partisan ideological manner. Its demise is nothing short of glorious. 

News: In letter to FED Chairman obtained by RealClearPolitics, Trump’s acting CFPB director @RussVought requests for Q3 of FY25 a grand total of… $0. pic.twitter.com/OeCoGmenJs

— Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) February 9, 2025

North of $711 million dollars are currently sitting in the account of the CFPB. Three-quarters of a billion dollars. And this is not a department that goes back a hundred years. It has amassed that much of a bankroll, again outside the appropriations process every other federal agency must go through, in a dozen years or so. It's astounding. Do you feel like your personal finances have benefited by the CFPB? Do you sleep well knowing that even with taking $0 dollars for the foreseeable future, they have $711 million in reserves? 

Vought and his team are going to go through the Bureau. Every last bit of it. You think DOGE has found fraud and waste at places like USAID? Apply that same ratio to $711 million at CFPB. Think we'll learn there were some practices going on that we're not going to like an awful lot? Without a doubt. 

If Wheaton can't bring themselves to do it, I certainly will. Congratulations, Russ Vought, and God speed. And as the great Michael Ledeen used to say, "Faster please." 

Update (Ed): In the third to last paragraph, it should have read "Three-quarters of a billion dollars" rather than "trillion." I have corrected it, and thanks to the reader who flagged it by e-mail.