SerpApi.Org
A sharp exchange unfolded during a recent Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing as Sen. Mark Warner repeatedly pressed President Donald Trump‘s Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to grade his own success at “traumatizing” the federal workforce.
Russell Vought confronted
Vought appeared before the committee to testify about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), but Warner focused much of his questioning on reported past remarks in which Vought allegedly said he wanted to put federal employees “in trauma.”
“Well, the real question I want to get to, you said in your writings that you wanted to traumatize the federal workforce,” Warner began.
Vought immediately disputed the characterization, replying, “That’s not what I said, senator, but I’m happy to clarify previous statements.”
Heated back and forth
Warner dismissed the explanation, arguing that the Trump administration’s actions reflect Vought’s stated intentions.
“Listen, your writings were very clear. You wanted to make sure federal workers felt like they shouldn’t go to work. You felt like you wanted to add trauma,” Warner said before asking Vought to assign himself a letter grade based on how effectively he had accomplished that objective.
Rather than answer directly, Vought defended the administration’s broader record. “We’ve done aggressive actions to live and have fiscally responsible government,” he started.
Warner quickly interrupted, saying, “The thing is, you want to ask the questions, get elected and sit up here. You’ve got a United States senator asking a question. Give yourself a grade — A, B, C, D, F — on how well you’ve done at traumatizing our workforce.”
Vought again declined to answer the question as posed, instead saying, “I think we’ve done an incredible job in running the CFPB, and I’m excited to be here to answer questions about that.”
‘Terrorizing and traumatizing’ our federal workforce
As the hearing began to heat up, Warner continued to press Vought.
“I was a business guy, so don’t use bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo,” Warner snapped.
“Did you get an A, B, C or did you fail?” the senator repeated. “I actually think you did a pretty [good job] with your goal of traumatizing and undermining the federal workforce/ I think you’ve done a pretty d*** good job. What grade would you get?”
Vought again sidestepped the question, replying, “We’ve done an excellent job running the CFPB.”
Warner ended the exchange with a final criticism: “Sir, I would say excellent job on terrorizing and traumatizing our federal workforce,” he concluded.
