The Freedom Caucus’s power is expanding beyond the halls of Congress with the appointment of Russ Vought as White House budget director.

Vought, a conservative whose brass-knuckled approach to politics naturally aligns him with the Freedom Caucus, has spent years antagonizing House leadership from the outside.

As a think tank wonk, he helped the hard-liners exercise unheard-of influence under Speaker Kevin McCarthy, fostering a rebellion that won them policy concessions and plum committee assignments. Nine months later, he egged on McCarthy’s historic ouster.

Vought has stayed involved in House politics as the Freedom Caucus pushes for steep cuts under new leadership, counseling members on how to negotiate with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

“Many of us have open communication with him, and we certainly respect the wisdom and insight that he has to offer,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said of Vought. “He’s a fantastic ally.”

But Vought’s confirmation has also given them a de facto outpost in the White House. Not only is Vought aligned with the caucus, but his right hand will be a former Freedom Caucus member: Trump tapped ex-Rep. Dan Bishop to serve as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Vought has a needle to thread as he carries out Trump’s priorities. He will sometimes be in conflict with the Freedom Caucus given the president’s ideological flexibility on spending.

In December, Trump demanded a no-strings-attached hike in the federal debt ceiling, only to be rebuffed by House conservatives.

But Vought also has a unique opportunity to use his newfound perch to steer House policy, applying pressure on Johnson as one of Trump’s most senior officials.

Within days of his confirmation last week, Vought attended a Senate GOP lunch in which he urged lawmakers to move quickly on border funding as Johnson ties that money up in a difficult-to-negotiate tax bill.

He has not outright said he opposes Johnson’s approach, but the plea was viewed as tacit alignment with the Freedom Caucus, which released a border-first budget resolution this week.

“He supports getting the money now,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the Senate Budget Committee chairman, said of Vought. “I don’t think he cares how we do it, but he said I need it yesterday.”

Graham advanced his own resolution this week providing $175 billion in border security funding.

Vought’s return to the White House — he also served as budget director in Trump’s first term — reflects a seismic shift in power for the new Right. Emboldened by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting department, Vought has embarked on a scorched-earth campaign to slash the size of the federal government.

In one of his first acts, Vought shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s operations, declaring the regulator a “woke & weaponized agency against disfavored industries and individuals.”

Trump named Vought acting director of the agency one day after he was confirmed by the Senate.

The step reflects Vought’s willingness to challenge congressional authority. He was a controversial nominee in part for his desire to “impound,” or leave unspent, money that lawmakers had appropriated.

Senate Democrats delivered a parade of floor speeches the night before his confirmation to denounce him as “lawless” and extreme.

But Vought also has a deep understanding of how to work within the confines of Congress, where he served as a staffer for more than a decade. He was at one point executive director of the Republican Study Committee, a forerunner of the Freedom Caucus (formed in 2015).

Later, he served as Vice President Mike Pence’s policy director when he was a member of House leadership.

The Freedom Caucus is relying on that experience as it games out how to handle reconciliation, the legislative process that Congress will use to pass Trump’s agenda. Its members essentially forced Johnson to accept $2 trillion in spending cuts ahead of a House Budget Committee markup on Thursday.

“Russ Vought is one of the biggest treasures of any of the nominations. He is a class above,” said Ralph Norman (R-SC).

“He knows the numbers back and forward. He’s straight up,” added Norman. “People who have the, I guess, base knowledge, plus know the political side — he’s invaluable. We couldn’t do it without him.”

Vought has a long-standing relationship with Johnson, too. Both are devout Christians who came up through the conservative movement, Johnson as a religious freedom litigator and Vought as a think tank intellectual.

But Vought began to sour on Johnson with the rest of his Freedom Caucus colleagues soon after his surprise ascension to the speakership. 

As Johnson cut deals to fund the war in Ukraine or extend a controversial surveillance program, Vought warned that he deserved a brewing ouster attempt that Trump helped tamp down last year.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), one of Vought’s closest Freedom Caucus allies, downplayed the tensions between the two men.

“I mean, I think Russ and Mike get along well, they’ve known each other a long time,” Roy said.

“There are always points where we may disagree,” added Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA), another Freedom Caucus member. “But we work through them because we are all on the same side of greater fiscal responsibility and accountability in government.” 

A spokesperson for Vought did not respond to an interview request.

Vought continues to advise the caucus on what one member called House “strategery.” That includes the standoff over reconciliation but also a looming March 14 deadline to fund the government.

He has discussed with members areas for budget cuts and how to reach a compromise that can get 218 votes, a bare majority, in the House.

“We have a pretty close relationship with him, obviously, from the first term, when he was in the first Trump administration,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), the Freedom Caucus chairman. “So, yeah. I mean, we do contact him about some of these things. I mean, it would be only natural.”

Vought’s guidance is relatively informal and does not represent coordination with the entire caucus, according to conversations with 10 members.

But the Freedom Caucus sees his ascension to the White House as a sign of its growing stature within the party. That influence grew when Republicans assumed a wafer-thin House majority in 2022 and has only been cemented by Trump’s political comeback.

“I wouldn’t treat any policy discussion as an informal call,” said Boebert, the Freedom Caucus’s communications chairwoman. “Every conversation that we have is formal and serious, and we are working on the best path forward to make sure that we take action and deliver.”

Ultimately, Vought will be tasked with carrying out Trump’s agenda, meaning he may get overruled in budget talks. The president has shown an aversion to deep cuts to entitlement programs, like the Medicaid changes the Freedom Caucus is demanding.

But Trump also has little interest in the nitty-gritty of how bills are passed, giving Vought some latitude to steer the agenda.

He is joined by Stephen Miller, Trump’s domestic policy adviser, and Tom Homan, his immigration czar, in the push for fast border money.

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“Our message today is speed. Our message today is action,” Vought told Fox News’s Larry Kudlow on Tuesday after he met with Senate Republicans.

“Our hope is that they move forward and that we get to the point where we can actually vote on bills, vote on the president’s proposals,” he added. “And get to the point where he can sign into law his agenda as soon as possible.”