WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Russell Vought as White House budget director on Thursday night, putting an official who has planned the zealous expansion of President Donald Trump's power into one of the most influential positions in the federal government.

Democrats fought the OMB nominee's confirmation, elevating a little-known agency head to the national spotlight amid larger anxieties about the fate of congressional spending authority.

Vought's return to the White House Office of Management and Budget, which he also helmed during Trump's first term, would put him in a role that often goes under the public radar

The emergence of X owner Elon Musk as the most influential figure around President Donald Trump has created an extraordinary dynamic — a White House adviser who's using one of the world’s most powerful information platforms to sell the government’s talking points while threatening its detractors.

The White House said Elon Musk, the billionaire leading President Donald Trump’s government cost-cutting efforts, will determine if there are conflicts of interest between his work reviewing federal spending and his overlapping empire of six companies.

Senior District Judge George O’Toole temporarily paused a deadline that was set to kick in at the end of the day Thursday so as to allow time for additional legal briefs to be s