OMB: Mulvaney would vote for Trump’s budget

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Tuesday said its director, Mick Mulvaney, would indeed vote for President Trump’s budget proposal, after Mulvaney said he wouldn’t have in response to a senator’s questioning during a hearing earlier in the day.

“Just to be clear, Director Mulvaney was referring to the recent caps deal when answering Senator Murray’s question this morning. Naturally, he would vote for the President’s FY19 budget that he released yesterday,” OMB spokeswoman Meghan Burris said in a statement.

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During a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Tuesday morning, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked Mulvaney if he would have voted for the budget if he were still in Congress, noting that he said Sunday that he wouldn’t have voted for the deal to increase spending caps that Trump signed last week.

“If you were in Congress, would you have voted for this budget that you’re presenting?” Murray asked.

“I can give the same answer I gave on Sunday, which is that as a member of Congress representing the 5th District of South Carolina, I probably would have found enough shortcomings in this to vote against it, as did many members of this committee,” Mulvaney replied. “But I’m the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and my job is to try and fund the president’s priorities, which is exactly what we did.”

“So you would say this is a no, as a member of Congress?” Murray asked.

“Yeah, I think I’ve said that before,” Mulvaney said. “I don’t think that reflects on my opinion of it as a member of the administration.”

“Okay,” Murray said, laughing. She later responded to the exchange on Twitter, saying it “was nice to hear an honest answer” from the OMB director.

It was nice to hear an honest answer from OMB Dir. Mulvaney in the budget hearing today. I asked if he would vote for President Trump’s budget if he were in Congress, and he said that he wouldn’t. That’s one thing we agree on! –PM

— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) February 13, 2018

Mulvaney previously served in the House and was known as a fiscal hawk. He played a key role in creating Trump’s budget, which does not balance within the 10-year budget window.