Democrats opposed a now-rescinded funding freeze by Trump and refused to show up for OMB nominee Russell Vought's confirmation hearing.

The Senate Budget Committee on Thursday advanced Russell Vought’s nomination as Office of Management and Budget director, despite the panel’s 10 Democrats skipping the vote in protest.

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 signed an executive order calling for a federal "funding freeze," and Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) subsequently issued

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.

Until a federal judge stops it, the “pause” in grants and loans will be really bad news for poor people in need of Medicaid or food stamps.

You are going to swear an oath to the Constitution, not to Donald Trump, just like any other confirmed official," Slotkin reminded Vought

President Donald Trump’s administration issued a memo Monday ordering widespread federal assistance to be temporarily paused, as Trump and his allies have argued he can block government funds that Congress has already authorized, despite a federal law forbidding it.

The order to pause nearly all U.S. financial assistance for executive branch review poses a constitutional test of the president’s impoundment powers.

Buried within one of the dozens of executive orders that President Donald Trump issued in his first days in office is a section titled “Terminating the Green New Deal.” As presidential directives go, this one initially seemed like a joke. The Green New Deal exists mostly in the dreams of climate activists; it has never been fully enacted into law.

That roped Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham into the heated back and forth, who impressed on Vought that he did not have attorney-client privilege to evade a line of questioning as some of Trump’s other nominees did. “I am not claiming a privilege, Senator,” Vought said.

Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's choice for Director ... as Richard Nixon suggested to aides in the 1970s, the Supreme Court ruled last year that presidents are entitled to a broad degree of immunity for official actions. The scope of that immunity ...