Senate Democrats promise all-night marathon of speeches in protest of Vought’s nomination

By Morgan Rimmer, CNN

Washington (CNN) — Senate Democrats have started what they’re promising will be an overnight marathon of speeches to protest Russell Vought’s nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget.

Vought is expected to be confirmed in a vote Thursday evening.

Republicans control 53 seats in the chamber compared to 47 seats in the Democratic Caucus. That means the GOP has been able to consistently confirm President Donald Trump’s nominees since confirmation only requires a simple majority.

But Democrats can slow down the process.

The marathon of speeches is being led by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the top Democrats on the Senate Budget, Appropriations, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees.

Democrats have been sounding the alarm on Vought’s ties to Project 2025, and his insistence that the 2020 election was “rigged,” for weeks, but their calls for Trump to pull his nomination only grew after OMB released a memo last week freezing federal funding. This memo was eventually rescinded, but Democrats called it a warning sign for how Vought would run the office. OMB plays a key role in enacting the president’s agenda.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon kicked off the speeches at 2:17 p.m. ET.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.