Sen. Merkley presses OMB deputy nominee on agency responsiveness, separation of powers and USAID cuts

Sen. Merkley challenged the nominee for Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), saying the post carries "a position of immense responsibility" and pressing the nominee on his experience and on OMB's recent record.

Merkley noted that the deputy post is Senate-confirmed and described the agency's scale: he said OMB is requesting about $179 million and employs roughly 675 people. He said the nominee's prior roles — including under two years as associate director in OMB's legislative affairs office and limited Hill experience — left him "concerned [the nominee's] resume is a bit thin," and he asked why the nominee should be trusted with a much larger portfolio.

Merkley also accused OMB of "essentially stonewalling Congress and this committee," saying the office had failed to respond to a letter he sent. He asked whether the nominee would ensure the executive branch works with both parties and that congressional correspondence is answered.

Turning to constitutional concerns, Merkley said that since the Trump administration and Russell Vought returned to office, they "repeatedly violated the Constitution's separation of powers," citing examples including the administration's use of war powers and presidential tariffs that he said the Supreme Court had found unconstitutional. He asserted that "on seven separate occasions" OMB had violated separation-of-powers principles and asked whether the nominee had studied these issues and whether OMB defends the Constitution in its actions.

Merkley raised personnel and programmatic consequences of administrative actions, calling attention to the firing of thousands of federal workers and saying that when staff are removed, "that vision is not executed." He pressed the nominee for a commitment that he would not "shut down programs when Congress has funded them and authorized them."

Merkley also returned to USAID, saying the agency was "dramatically" decreased and that, in his telling, "our various departments... estimate about 500,000 children have died" after program shutdowns for malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and dysentery. In the hearing record this figure was presented as an estimate and was framed as a claim by the senator; no supporting source or adjudication of that figure was provided during the exchange in these segments.

Finally, Merkley criticized the OMB budget proposal for failing to address affordability issues he said are pressing for families, including gas and grocery prices, concerns about Social Security's funding trajectory, the effect of high diesel and fertilizer prices on farmers, and a lack of revenue proposals to reduce the deficit or a plan to "pay for the war in Iran."

The exchange was framed as questioning the nominee's readiness and priorities; the transcript ends with Merkley asking whether the nominee will be "simply a rubber stamp" or will "fight to defend the Constitution and the balance of powers." The nominee's responses are not included in the provided segments.

The hearing continued beyond the segments provided; no formal vote or recorded committee action appears in these segments.