By Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump's choice to oversee the federal budget, Russell Vought, defended the U.S. president-elect's goal of cutting spending by refusing to spend money that Congress has already authorized at a Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Vought, who also headed the Office of Management and Budget during Trump's first term, questioned the constitutionality of a 1974 law governing how Congress can review presidential refusal to spend, a process called "impoundment."
"For 200 years, presidents had the ability to spend less than an appropriation if they could do it for less," Vought said about congressional funding. "As it pertains to the parameters of how we would use that, that's something that his team will have to consider when they are confirmed."
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal challenged that assertion, saying, "I am astonished and aghast that someone in this responsible of position would in effect say that the president is above the law."
Trump's Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and his cabinet nominees largely appear to be on a glide path to confirmation.
Asked if he will release the remaining $3.8 billion of Ukraine funding, Vought wouldn't commit, saying he did not want to get ahead of Trump's foreign policy.
Trump has tapped Vought for a posting that will be central to setting the president's budget and organizing the federal government's processes and spending.
Vought tried to distance himself from some cost-cutting policy proposals floated by the Center for Renewing America think tank he currently runs -- like potential cuts to veterans’ disability payments -- by saying his priorities will be Trump's.
Last year, Vought authored portions of the approximately 900-page conservative policy playbook called "Project 2025", which Trump eventually distanced himself from during the presidential campaign due to some of its hard-right proposals. Few questions were asked about the writings at Wednesday's hearings.
Republican Senator Rand Paul, the chairman for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, himself a fiscal hawk, at times chimed in to agree with Democrats' assertions in the hearing that the president should have to spend funds the way Congress intends.
However, Paul said he remains "optimistic" for Vought's ability to rein in government spending. "We need someone with the strength of character like Mr. Vought to put the foot down, put the hammer down and say enough is enough," Paul said.