Democrats took turns speaking on the Senate floor all night through Thursday morning to delay the confirmation vote for President Donald Trump’s Office of Management and Budget director pick.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) took the graveyard shift — he spoke from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. He said he considers Russell Vought, who helped create Project 2025, one of Trump’s most dangerous picks.
“Russ Vought is the architect of those plans to erode our democracy and to transfer wealth to the very powerful,” Murphy said. “He does not deserve to be the Director of the Office of Budget and Management, and I am very glad and proud of my colleagues for being on the floor all night to raise those concerns.”
In a post on X re-shared by Vought, Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) called the protest “futile attempts to smear my friend Russ Vought and mislead the American people.”
Vought will not need Democratic votes to be confirmed as long as he has Republican support. He served as the director of OMB during part of Trump’s first presidency.
However, Murphy said, as the opposition party, Democrats shouldn’t be helping to move any of Trump’s picks closer to confirmation.
Murphy followed the four hours of speaking with a 15-minute Instagram live. During the broadcast, he addressed concerns that Democrats weren’t doing enough to oppose Trump.
“I have not been quiet about the fact that I think the Democrats have not been loud enough,” Murphy said. “So I've been doing exceptional things to try to raise the temperature amongst Democrats.”
Those things include voting against all of Trump’s nominees, rejecting shorter confirmation debates, supporting lawsuits against the administration, and organizing protests.
Murphy said he was planning an “emergency town hall” meeting in Connecticut but did not say when or where it would be.
