The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate Budget Committee will move ahead on confirming President Donald Trump's pick for budget chief Russell Vought despite calls from top Democrats for a delay after an order halting all federal grants and loans.

Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Russell Vought arrives to testify during a hearing of the House Budget Committee about President Trump's budget for Fiscal Year 2021, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer took a small victory lap around the White House’s decision to rescind an order for a temporary freeze on federal aid, vowing that the move was the first of many fights Democrats were ready to wage against the Trump administration.

President Trump's nominees for top posts in his administration are gearing up for their Senate confirmation hearings, which kicked off earlier this month.

President Trump's pick to lead the Office of Management and Budget faced a tough grilling from Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Budget Committee on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump’s administration issued a memo Monday ordering widespread federal assistance to be temporarily paused, as Trump and his allies have argued he can block government funds that Congress has already authorized, despite a federal law forbidding it.

President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan Laken Riley Act into law as his administration’s first piece of legislation. People who are in the United States illegally and are accused of theft and violent crimes would have to be detained and potentially deported even before a conviction.

Russell Vought, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget, poses for a photo with Cabinet picks, other nominees and appointments, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

A White House order to freeze federal grants reflects a theory of presidential power that Donald Trump clearly endorsed during his 2024 campaign. The approach was further outlined in the Project 2025 governing treatise that candidate Trump furiously denied was a blueprint for his second administration.

Following his inauguration ceremony on Monday, President Donald Trump released the full list of his cabinet appointees.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, is the latest to express public disapproval, particularly for the pardons for those convicted of assaulting police officers.

The drama over federal-grant spending this week isn’t mere disorganization; it’s part of a broader effort to remake the government from the inside.