Trump Nominates Champion of Fiscal Conservatism to Lead OMB

Over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of U.S. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), who has a wealth of experience on economic, budgetary and fiscal issues, as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The congressman has long been a champion of fiscal conservatism in Congress, urging his colleagues to rein in out-of-control government spending, fraud, waste and abuse. As director of OMB, he will hold a key role in the president-elect’s America First plan by helping to get the nation’s fiscal house in order.

“We are going to do great things for the American people with Mick Mulvaney leading the Office of Management and Budget,” Trump said. “Right now, we are nearly $20 trillion in debt, but Mick is a very high-energy leader with deep convictions for how to responsibly manage our nation’s finances and save our country from drowning in red ink. With Mick at the head of OMB, my administration is going to make smart choices about America’s budget, bring new accountability to our federal government and renew the American taxpayer’s trust in how their money is spent.”

Mulvaney, who is Catholic, has broad business experience across many fields. After practicing law following his graduation from law school, the entrepreneurial spirit captured him, and he started his own law firm. Later, he ran his family’s real estate business and then went on to start a small home-building company and owned and operated his own restaurant.

He has used his educational, professional and business background to bring a focus on jobs, business and the economy to his work in Congress. He currently serves on the House Financial Services Committee as well as the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Mulvaney also co-authored the Cut, Cap and Balance Act, which curbed and capped needless federal spending and provided for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. Additionally, Rep. Mulvaney’s Congressional office has returned hundreds of thousands of dollars from its office budget to the U.S. Treasury over the past few years.

“It is a great honor to be appointed Director of the Office of Management and Budget,” he said. “The Trump administration will restore budgetary and fiscal sanity back in Washington after eight years of an out-of-control, tax and spend financial agenda, and will work with Congress to create policies that will be friendly to American workers and businesses. Each day, families across our nation make disciplined choices about how to spend their hard-earned money, and the federal government should exercise the same discretion that hardworking Americans do every day.”

Mulvaney was born in Charlotte, N.C., but moved just over the border to Indian Land, S.C., as a child. He was an honor scholar graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina. He completed his formal education at Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management program in 2006.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), despite being on the opposite side of a number of budget battles over the years, praised Trump’s pick:

Mick Mulvaney is the absolute right choice. In Congress, he has been a conservative reformer from day one, proposing solutions to fix the budget process and our regulatory system. At OMB, he will lead the work he has started to improve the way government does the people’s business. 

Mick is someone I have come to greatly respect and rely on, going back to our time serving together on the budget committee. I look forward to working with Mick in his new role, and I commend President-elect Trump on this excellent selection.

Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint echoed that praise:

“I am delighted to see that my friend and former colleague Rep. Mick Mulvaney has been nominated to serve as director of OMB.” {eoa}