By April Rubin,Nathan Posner

Copyright axios

Driving the news: Vought said Monday, as the funding gap began, that the Trump administration would begin firing federal workers within days.

He had previously threatened mass layoffs if a shutdown began.Vought called the shutdown deadline a “very critical juncture” on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast last month.

The big picture: In the Trump White House, Vought stands out for knowing how the bureaucracy works and how to navigate it.

“He cares a lot about understanding all the details so he can maximally weaponize things,” Bobby Kogan, a former OMB staffer during the Biden administration told Axios earlier this year. “He’s incredibly effective.”

Behind the scenes: Vought felt sidelined by Elon Musk’s role with the Department of Government Efficiency, the New York Times reported in September.

Vought has seen through some of DOGE’s lofty overhauls. In July, he said OMB’s job was to make DOGE cuts permanent.

Zoom out: Before joining the first Trump administration, Vought was the vice president of Heritage Action for America, a sister organization to the Heritage Foundation.

He advocated for deep cuts to Medicaid, the Education Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) — all of which the Trump administration began executing this year. Last month, Vought said he didn’t believe the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ watchdog, should exist.

What we’re watching: Trump on Tuesday wrote on Truth Social that he had a meeting with Vought to determine which “Democrat Agencies” he recommended cutting, perhaps permanently.

Go deeper: White House to begin firing federal workers within a “day or two”