Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell Vought arrives to testify during a hearing of the House Budget Committee about President Trump's budget for Fiscal Year 2021, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Trump's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget faced a tough grilling from Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday.

If confirmed, Mr. Vought will be at the center of President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to upend the federal bureaucracy.

Russell Vought, Project 2025 mastermind and Trump’s nominee for the Office of Management and Budget, had quite a testy confirmation hearing.

Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget, poses for a photo with Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

As U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House, it already seems clear that his second term will look little like his first. Many of Trump’s first-term appointments distanced themselves from his views and even denounced him.

Some roll back previous executive orders issued by Biden. Others reinstate executive orders from Trump’s first term.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, is the latest to express public disapproval, particularly for the pardons for those convicted of assaulting police officers.

Some of Project 2025’s recommendations include restricting abortion access and supporting a “biblically based” definition of family, because the “male-female dyad is essential to human nature,” by replacing policies related to LGBTQ+ equity with those that “support the formation of stable, married, nuclear families.”

On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States, some people who work for the federal government are concerned. Trump and his allies have repeatedly promised to dismantle the administrative state and fire those they perceive as disloyal.

President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, faced questions on Capitol Hill. He was pressed about plans to exert greater power over government agencies and shrinking spending.

Donald Trump is remaking the traditional boundaries of Washington as his administration’s priorities begin to take shape.