Senate confirms Trump's OMB chief
Mick Mulvaney, one of Capitol Hill's leading critics of government spending and debt, will serve as budget director in the Trump administration.
Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), one of the founding members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, was confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 16 to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
The vote was 51-49, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) crossing party lines to oppose the nomination.
Mulvaney, who entered Congress during the Tea Party wave of 2010, helped to found the Freedom Caucus and led efforts in the House of Representatives to oppose raising the debt ceiling on many occasions including during the 2013 "fiscal cliff" negotiations.
Though Mulvaney didn't have much of a profile on management issues, he did sound enthusiastic about the Data Act in a confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. On Capitol Hill, Mulvaney also has been an advocate for modernizing legislative data to simplify the tracking of bills as they were updated.
All 46 Democrats voted against Mulvaney's nomination, along with the two independent senators who caucus with the Democrats. McCain's opposition was based on votes by Mulvaney in the House to reduce funding for the military.
Mulvaney will take over OMB with about 10 weeks left under the current continuing resolution funding the government. Trump has yet to name the OMB supporting cast, including the deputy director for management, the deputy director for budget, the federal CIO and the head of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy.