John Michael “Mick” Mulvaney (born July 21, 1967) is an American politician who served as director of the
Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...
(OMB) from February 2017 until March 2020, and as acting
White House chief of staff
The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a position in the federal government of the United States.
The chief of staff is a Political appointments in the United States, politi ...
from January 2019 until March 2020. Prior to his appointments to the Trump administration, he served in the
U.S. House of Representatives.
Mulvaney, a
Republican, served in the
South Carolina General Assembly
The South Carolina General Assembly, also called the South Carolina Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of South Carolina. The legislature is bicameral and consists of the lower South Carolina House of Representatives and ...
from 2007 to 2011, first in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
and then the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
.
He served as a U.S. representative for
South Carolina's fifth congressional district from 2011 to 2017. He was nominated as OMB director by President-elect
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
in December 2016 and confirmed by
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
vote (51–49) on .
While confirmed as OMB director, he served as acting director of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, Payday lo ...
(CFPB) from November 2017 to December 2018, and as acting White House chief of staff from January 2019 until March 2020. After resigning as OMB director and acting White House chief of staff, he served as the
U.S. special envoy for Northern Ireland from March 2020 until January 2021.
Mulvaney was known for his support for
fiscal conservatism
In American political theory, fiscal conservatism or economic conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, ...
as a congressman, which included a willingness to shut down the government during
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's presidency. However, as OMB director in the Trump administration, he oversaw an expansion in the deficit. The deficit increases were a result of both spending increases and tax cuts, and were unusually high for a period of economic expansion.
A staunch opponent of the CFPB while in Congress, Mulvaney's tenure as acting director of the bureau led to a considerable reduction of the bureau's enforcement and regulatory powers.
In January 2019, Mulvaney became acting
White House chief of staff
The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a position in the federal government of the United States.
The chief of staff is a Political appointments in the United States, politi ...
. In a
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
press conference held on October 17, 2019, Mulvaney said the White House had withheld military aid in part until Ukraine investigated an unsubstantiated theory that Ukraine, not Russia, was responsible for
hacking Democratic Party emails in 2016.
Mark Meadows
Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 under the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representat ...
succeeded Mulvaney as chief of staff.
On January 7, 2021, Mulvaney reported that he resigned the day before as Special Envoy for Northern Ireland following the
storming of the U.S. Capitol.
In 2022, Mulvaney was hired as an on-air contributor for
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
.
His hiring stirred controversy within the company due to his history of promoting Trump's false claims and attacking the press.
He has since joined
NewsNation and
CNBC
CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
as a contributor.
Early life and education
Mulvaney was born in
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...
, to Mike, a real estate developer,
and Kathy Mulvaney, a teacher.
He grew up in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...
. He later moved to
Indian Land, South Carolina.
He has Polish and Irish ancestry, with roots in
County Mayo
County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
, Ireland.
He attended
Charlotte Catholic High School and then
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
, where he majored in international economics, commerce and finance.
[ At Georgetown, he was an Honors Scholar of the ]School of Foreign Service
The Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) is the school of international relations at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. It grants degrees at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Founded in 1919, SFS is the oldest continu ...
, and ultimately graduated with honors in 1989.
Mulvaney attended law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
. He earned a full scholarship to attend law school, where his focus was on antitrust law
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...
. He earned a Juris Doctor
A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
in 1992.
Early career
From 1992 to 1997, Mulvaney practiced law with the firm James, McElroy and Diehl. Mulvaney joined his family's homebuilding and real estate business. He participated in the Owners and Presidents Management Program at Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
. He was a minority shareholder and owner-operator in Salsarita's Fresh Cantina, a privately held regional restaurant chain.
South Carolina legislature
State House
Mulvaney was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives
The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections.
Unlike many legislatures, seatin ...
in 2006.
State Senate
In 2008 an unexpected retirement created a vacancy in the South Carolina Senate. While in the State Senate, Mulvaney served on the Judiciary, Labor/Commerce/Industry, Medical Affairs, Agriculture/Natural Resources, and Corrections Committees. The Palmetto Family Council identified him as the Freshman Legislator of the Year in 2006 for his work on the Woman's Ultrasound Right to Know Act, which required physicians to perform ultrasound
Ultrasound is sound with frequency, frequencies greater than 20 Hertz, kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible hearing range, limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply ...
s on pregnant women seeking abortion
Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
s and inform them of the fetus
A fetus or foetus (; : fetuses, foetuses, rarely feti or foeti) is the unborn offspring of a viviparous animal that develops from an embryo. Following the embryonic development, embryonic stage, the fetal stage of development takes place. Pren ...
' gestational age before performing the procedure.
In 2010 he was named Legislator of the Year for his work in support of the State's Emergency Medical Services (EMS). He has received one of the few A+ ratings in the entire legislature from the South Carolina Club for Growth.[
]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2010
Mulvaney, a GOP Young Gun, ran against Democratic incumbent John M. Spratt Jr. for . The race was highlighted by Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...
's Free and Strong America PAC's "Take Congress Back: 10 in '10" initiative as one of the top 10 House challenger races. Mulvaney's involvement in the now-defunct Edenmoor real estate development in Lancaster County, South Carolina
Lancaster County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 96,016, Its county seat is Lancaster, which has an urban population of 23,979. The county was created in 1785. Lancaster Cou ...
became a campaign issue, with his opponents alleging that he misled the Lancaster County council and taxpayers to provide $30 million in public funding for the real estate development and that once the public funds had been approved, Mulvaney sold his interest in the development to a third party at a $7 million profit. Mulvaney denied the allegations and said the project's failure was due to Democratic economic policies. He defeated Spratt, who had held the seat since 1983, with 55% of the vote.
Mulvaney's campaign against Spratt was aided by a 501(c)(4) organization
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...
named the Commission on Hope, Growth, and Opportunity. The group, which was established by anonymous donors and run by lobbyist Scott W. Reed, was accused by the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), is a progressive nonprofit 501(c)(3) watchdog organization devoted to U.S. government ethics and accountability.''Washington Information Directory 2017-2018''; CQ Press; 2017; Pg. 327 ...
of violating federal campaign finance
Campaign financealso called election finance, political donations, or political financerefers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corpor ...
laws and disclosing false information to the Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
.
2012
He won re-election to a second term by defeating Democrat Joyce Knott 56%–44%.
2014
He won re-election to a third term by defeating Democrat Tom Adams, a Fort Mill Town Council member, 59%–41%.
Mulvaney co-founded the bipartisan Blockchain Caucus, "meant to help congressmen stay up to speed on cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.
Individual coin ownership record ...
and blockchain
The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...
technologies," and develop policies that advance them.
2016
Mulvaney faced Ray Craig in the Republican primary and defeated him 78–22%. Mulvaney was re-elected to a fourth term, winning over 59% of the vote against Fran Person, a former aide to then-Vice President Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
.
Tenure
During his time in the U.S. House, Mulvaney aligned himself with the Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2007, catapulted into the mainstream by Congressman Ron Paul's presidential campaign. The movement expanded in resp ...
. He is a founding member of the Freedom Caucus
The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of Republican Party (United States), Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most Cons ...
.
He opposed gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians.
Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...
initiatives and the Affordable Care Act
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
. In response to criticism for meeting with the paleoconservative John Birch Society in July 2016, Mulvaney said, "I regularly speak to groups across the political spectrum because my constituents deserve access to their congressman. I can't remember ever turning down an opportunity to speak to a group based on the group's political ideology."
Pay-to-play
In April 2018, Mulvaney told a room of banking industry executives and lobbyists that as a Congressman he refused to take meetings with lobbyists unless they contributed to his congressional campaigns. He said, "If you are a lobbyist who never gave us money, I did not talk to you. If you are a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you." At the top of the hierarchy, he added, were his constituents: "If you came from back home and sat in my lobby, I talked to you without exception, regardless of the financial contributions."
Government shutdown
According to ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', Mulvaney took "a hard line on spending during President Obama's term, vowing not to raise the nation's debt limit and embracing the term 'Shutdown Caucus' because of his willingness to shut the government down instead." In 2015, Mulvaney voted against a government-funding resolution, which would have prevented a government shutdown
A government shutdown occurs when the legislative branch does not pass key bills which fund or authorize the operations of the executive branch, resulting in the cessation of some or all operations of a government.
Government shutdowns in the U ...
, in part because it included funding for Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization . Explaining his vote, Mulvaney said, "This is not about women's health. It's about trafficking in pieces of dead children." After his appointment as head of the OMB in 2017, he reiterated his conditional position of support for a shutdown.[
]
Regulations
Mulvaney supported the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2015, which would have " reateda commission tasked with eliminating and revising outdated and redundant federal regulations".
Fiscal year 2014 budget
On December 10, 2013, Republican Representative Paul Ryan
Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member of the ...
and Democratic Senator Patty Murray announced that they had negotiated the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, a proposed two-year budget deal. The budget deal capped the federal government's spending for Fiscal Year 2014 at $1.012 trillion and for Fiscal Year 2015 at $1.014.
The proposed deal eliminated some of the spending cuts required by the sequester by $45 billion of the cuts scheduled to happen in January and $18 billion of the cuts scheduled to happen in 2015. This did not decrease federal spending; instead, by reducing the amount of spending cuts the government was going to be forced to make by the sequester, it actually increased government spending by $45 billion and $18 billion over what would have been spent had the sequester remained in place. Some Republicans wanted Speaker John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner ( ; born , 1949) is an American politician who served as the 53rd speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served 13 terms as the U.S. representative ...
to pursue a temporary measure that would cover the rest of Fiscal Year 2014 at the level set by the sequester—$967 billion, rather than pass this budget deal, which would have $45 billion in additional spending.
The deal was designed to make up for this increase in spending by raising airline fees and changing the pension contribution requirements of new federal workers. According to '' The Hill'', Mulvaney spearheaded opposition to the bill. He did not blame Ryan for the budget deal, instead saying the problem was that too few conservatives had been elected to Congress to pass a budget with a greater focus on debt reduction. Mulvaney said he expected the budget deal to pass because "it was designed to get the support of defense hawks and appropriators and Democrats", not conservatives.
On April 9, 2014, Mulvaney offered a proposal based on the Obama proposal as a substitute amendment in order to force a vote on the President's budget request. The President's proposal failed in a vote of 2–413, although Democrats were urged by their leadership to vote against this "political stunt".
Presidential endorsements
In September 2015, Mulvaney endorsed Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
Senator Rand Paul
Randal Howard Paul (born January 7, 1963) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Kentucky since 2011.
A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries.
Committee assignments
* Committee on Financial Services
* Committee on Small Business
** Subcommittee on Healthcare and Technology
** Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access
** Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce (chairman)
Caucus memberships
* Republican Study Committee
* Freedom Caucus
The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of Republican Party (United States), Republican members of the United States House of Representatives. It is generally considered to be the most Cons ...
* Tea Party Caucus
* Liberty Caucus
* Congressional Constitution Caucus
* Congressional Blockchain Caucus
Office of Management and Budget
Nomination
On December 16, 2016, Mulvaney was announced as President-elect Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
's choice to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...
.
Mulvaney's nomination as director-designate was reviewed in hearings held by the members of the United States Senate Committee on the Budget
The United States Senate Committee on the Budget was established by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. It is responsible for drafting Congress's annual budget plan and monitoring action on the budget for the Federal ...
and the then presented to the full Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
for a vote.
In his statement to the Senate Budget Committee, Mulvaney admitted that he had failed to pay $15,000 in payroll taxes from 2000 to 2004 for his triplets' nanny. Mulvaney said he did not pay the taxes because he viewed the woman as a babysitter rather than as a household employee. After filling out a questionnaire from the Trump transition team he realized the lapse and began paying back taxes and fees. Senate Democrats noted that Republicans had previously insisted that past Democratic nominees' failure to pay taxes for their household employees was disqualifying, including former Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle
Thomas Andrew Daschle ( ; born December 9, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who represented South Dakota in the United States Senate from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he led the Senate Democratic Caucus during the ...
in 2009.
On February 16, 2017, the Senate confirmed Mulvaney, 51–49, with Senator John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...
of Arizona joining all 48 Democrats to vote against his nomination. Democrats opposed his nomination because of his past efforts to slash budgets, as well as his role in government shutdowns.
Tenure
During his tenure as OMB director, Mulvaney sought to influence Trump to cut Social Security
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
and Medicare.[ When he introduced himself to Gary Cohn, who was then Trump's chief economic advisor, Mulvaney said, "Hi, I'm a right-wing nutjob."][ While Mulvaney was known for his professed support for ]fiscal conservatism
In American political theory, fiscal conservatism or economic conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, ...
as a congressman, under Mulvaney's tenure as OMB director there was a dramatic expansion in the deficit as a result of both spending increases and tax cuts. The deficits were unusually high for a period of economic expansion.
Manipulated unemployment numbers claim
In March 2017, Mulvaney said he believed that "the Obama administration was manipulating the numbers, in terms of the number of people in the workforce, to make the unemployment rate—that percentage rate—look smaller than it actually was," and that " at you should really look at is the number of jobs created." There is no evidence that jobs numbers under the Obama administration were manipulated. ''FiveThirtyEight
''FiveThirtyEight'', also rendered as ''538'', was an American website that focused on opinion poll analysis, politics, economics, and sports blogging in the United States.
The website, which took its name from the number of electors in the U ...
''s Ben Casselman noted that "manipulating the jobs figures... would mean not just messing with one number but rather interfering with an entire ecosystem of statistics ndwould require a conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
* ...
of massive proportions, involving hundreds if not thousands of people."
Criticism of the Congressional Budget Office
In March 2017, Mulvaney said the Congressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the United States Congress, legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress.
I ...
was not capable of assessing the American Health Care Act, stating that " the CBO was right about Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presi ...
to begin with, there'd be eight million more people on Obamacare today than there actually are." According to FactCheck.Org, " e CBO actually nailed the overall impact of the law on the uninsured pretty closely... It's true (as Trump administration officials have repeatedly pointed out) that CBO greatly overestimated the number who would get government-subsidized coverage through the new insurance exchanges. But at the same time, CBO underestimated the number who would get coverage through expanding Medicaid. And whatever the failings of CBO's predictions, they were closer to the mark than those of the Obama administration and some other prominent forecasters." PolitiFact
PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times ...
noted that "the initial CBO analysis of the Affordable Care Act did forecast that more people would participate in health care exchanges than actually did, but the CBO has revised those estimates. Moreover, independent analyses, as well as experts agree that the CBO offers some of the best estimates given the information available at the time."
In May 2017, Mulvaney was critical of the Congressional Budget Office
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the United States Congress, legislative branch of the United States government that provides budget and economic information to Congress.
I ...
(CBO) after it estimated the version of the American Health Care Act passed by the house in May 2017 would result in 23 million fewer people with health insurance. Mulvaney said the CBO's assessment was "absurd" and that "the days of relying on some nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to do that work for us has probably come and gone."
Trump administration's budget proposals
While promoting the Trump administration's budget proposal in March 2017, Mulvaney said that, as to taxpayers, the government was "not gonna ask you for your hard-earned money, anymore... unless we can guarantee to you that that money is actually being used in a proper function." For instance, Mulvaney justified cuts to block grants that go towards spending on Meals on Wheels because it was "just not showing any results". Others disagreed with Mulvaney's statement, citing research that has "found home-delivered meal programs to significantly improve diet quality, increase nutrient intakes, and reduce food insecurity and nutritional risk among participants. Other beneficial outcomes include increased socialization opportunities, improvement in dietary adherence, and higher quality of life."
On May 22, 2017, Mulvaney presented Trump's $4.1 trillion 2018 United States federal budget. The budget included cuts to the United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...
, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the social safety net and increases in funding for defense spending and paid family leave. The "America First" budget included a 10.6% decrease in domestic program spending and a 10% increase in military spending, in addition to $1.6 billion for a border wall. The budget would remove $272 billion from welfare programs, including $272 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
In the United States, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal government program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income persons to help them maintai ...
, also known as food stamps. The budget would also remove $800 billion from Medicaid
Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...
, and $72 billion from Social Security
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...
disability benefits, while removing nothing from Social Security retirement or Medicare benefits. Mulvaney projected the budget will not add to the federal deficit because future tax cuts will lead to 3% GDP growth. He described the budget as "the first time in a long time that an administration has written a budget through the eyes of the people who are actually paying the taxes."
In December 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
The Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, , is a congressional revenue act of the United States originally introduced in Congress as the Tax Cuts and Jobs ...
. The United States Congress Joint Committee on Taxation
The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) is a Committee of the U.S. Congress established under the Internal Revenue Code at .
Structure
The Joint Committee is composed of ten Members: five from the Senate Finance Committee and five from the House ...
forecasted that with dynamic scoring, the $1.5 trillion reduction in revenues will increase the federal deficit by $1 trillion. Regulatory implementation of the tax cuts have been delayed by a dispute between Mulvaney and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin regarding the involvement of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA ) is a division within the Office of Management and Budget under the Executive Office of the President. OIRA oversees the implementation of government-wide policies in, and reviews draft r ...
.
In February 2018, Mulvaney released the President's $4.4 trillion 2019 United States federal budget, which would add $984 billion to the federal deficit that year, and $7 trillion over the next 10 years. Later that month, the President signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which allowed yearly federal deficits to reach $1 trillion. In March 2018, Congress ultimately passed the $1.3 trillion Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, which funded the government's operations until the end of the fiscal year in September.
Ethics waivers
On April 28, 2017, Walter Shaub, the director of the United States Office of Government Ethics
The United States Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is an independent agency within the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. Federal Government which is responsible for directing executive branch policies ...
(OGE) issued a data request to see the ethics waivers given to ex-lobbyists in the executive branch, which Mulvaney refused, writing a letter that seemed to question OGE's authority to collect ethics records. On May 22, Shaub sent Mulvaney, in addition to every federal ethics officer, every inspector general, and the six members of Congress responsible for government oversight, a 10-page response reasserting his legal authority to see the ethics waivers.[ On May 26, Mulvaney sent a second letter denying that his first letter had questioned OGE's authority, and providing the information requested. Thereafter, on May 30, the White House complied with Shaub's data call by posting its waivers online. On August 1, Senators ]Chuck Grassley
Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Re ...
, Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...
, and Gary Peters
Gary Charles Peters (born December 1, 1958) is an American lawyer, politician, and former military officer serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Michigan, a seat he has hel ...
sent a bipartisan letter to Mulvaney demanding that the White House continue releasing its waivers on a continuing basis. On September 21, OGE's acting director, David Apol, issued a memorandum declaring that the White House would comply with this congressional request. On October 19, the White House released a second batch of waivers on its website.
Government shutdown
In a press briefing on May 2, 2017, Mulvaney said a "good shutdown" of the federal government might be necessary in September. He defined such a situation as one "that fixes Washington, D.C. permanently". In the same conference call to reporters, Mulvaney defended a funding package which contained no funds for Trump's proposed border wall. The call became infamous after being plagued with technical problems and interruptions.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Appointment
Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had encouraged President Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
to replace Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, Payday lo ...
(CFPB) Director Richard Cordray
Richard Adams Cordray (born May 3, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician who served from 2021 to 2024 as COO of Federal Student Aid in the United States Department of Education. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the first director of the Consum ...
. As a congressman, Mulvaney had been a strong critic of the CFPB, calling it a "sick, sad" joke, and co-sponsoring legislation for its elimination. Trump appointed Mulvaney to serve as acting director of the CFPB under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (FVRA), which allows for the president to appoint an interim replacement without Senate confirmation. However, a dispute arose over whether Mulvaney can be so-named under the FVRA or whether a provision of the Dodd-Frank Act controls, which would make the deputy director, Leandra English, acting director of the CFPB instead. This led to a court battle, '' English v. Trump''. On November 28, 2017, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly denied English's motion for a preliminary injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable reme ...
and allowed Mulvaney to continue serving as CFPB acting director.
Tenure
According to an April 2019 review of Mulvaney's tenure as CFPB head by ''The'' ''New York Times'', Mulvaney had undermined the enforcement and regulatory powers of the bureau. What was "perhaps Washington's most feared financial regulator" had through "strategic neglect and bureaucratic self-sabotage" begun to work against the very interests it was created to defend. Mulvaney immediately stopped hiring at the CFPB, stopped collecting fines, suspended rulemaking
In administrative law, rulemaking is the process that executive and independent agencies use to create, or ''promulgate'', regulations. In general, legislatures first set broad policy mandates by passing statutes, then agencies create more de ...
, and ordered all active investigations reviewed. Mulvaney also sharply reduced agency personnel's access to bank data, arguing that it posed a security risk. On January 18, 2018, Mulvaney submitted a quarterly budget request for the CFPB to the Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a series of ...
for $0.
In January 2018, Mulvaney canceled an investigation into a South Carolina payday lender who had previously donated to his congressional campaigns. He also dropped a lawsuit the CFPB was pursuing against an online lender the bureau had found was charging 950% interest. Mulvaney suspended a short-term payday loan
A payday loan (also called a payday advance, salary loan, payroll loan, small dollar loan, short term, or cash advance loan) is a short-term unsecured loan, often characterized by high interest rates. These loans are typically designed to cover ...
regulation. In addition to payday lenders, Mulvaney also scaled back efforts to go after auto lenders and others accused of preying on vulnerable consumers. By April 2018, more than four months after taking charge of the CFPB, Mulvaney had not undertaken a single enforcement action against finance companies; the previous CFPB director, Richard Cordray
Richard Adams Cordray (born May 3, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician who served from 2021 to 2024 as COO of Federal Student Aid in the United States Department of Education. From 2012 to 2017, he served as the first director of the Consum ...
, averaged two to four enforcement actions per month. Mulvaney accepted nearly $63,000 in donations by payday lenders while he was a congressman.
In April 2018, Mulvaney submitted the CFPB's annual report to Congress, in which he recommended the bureau's funding should be made to require congressional appropriations, that its future rulemaking should require legislative approval, and that he, the director, should be made removable without cause by the President.
The Community Financial Services Association of America, a trade association
A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...
representing the payday lending industry, praised Mulvaney's approach, calling it "relatively passive".[
In April 2018, it was reported that Mulvaney had given some of his political appointees at the CFPB raises.] Mulvaney hired at least eight appointees after he took over the agency and created positions for some the appointees which did not exist under Cordray's tenure at the CFPB.
In April 2018, Mulvaney said he would shut down public access to the CFPB's online database of consumer complaints where consumers could post complaints and the CFPB used to guide its investigations. Mulvaney said, "I don't see anything in here that says I have to run a Yelp for financial services sponsored by the federal government." As the database was mandated by law, it could not be shut down, only closed to the public. A review of Mulvaney's campaign contributions as a congressman showed that eight of the 10 firms with the most complaints about them had contributed to Mulvaney's campaigns. Under Mulvaney's successor, Kathy Kraninger, the proposal to keep complaints secret from public access was reversed, though corporations would be allowed space to respond to complaints on the CFPB's website, and the implementation of various changes to the way the complaints and enforcement actions would be presented, could present the subjects of complaints in a more favorable light.
Under Mulvaney, at the same time publicly announced Bureau enforcement actions dropped to a quarter of their previous annual averages, consumer complaints rose substantially.
In April 2018, Mulvaney announced a $1 billion fine against Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with a significant global presence. The company operates in 35 countries and serves over 70 million customers worldwide. It is a systemically important fi ...
for fraudulent practices. The case against Wells Fargo started prior to Mulvaney's tenure, and there were reports that Mulvaney considered dropping the case. Amid this reporting, Trump warned that the bank would be fined.
In May 2018, ''The New York Times'' reported that Mulvaney worked two to three days a week at the CFPB, a few hours at a time.
In August 2018, it was reported that Mulvaney was considering rolling back oversight of military lenders. The Military Lending Act was devised to protect military service members and their families from financial fraud, predatory loans and credit card gouging.
White House chief of staff
Appointment
On December 14, 2018, Trump named Mulvaney as his acting White House chief of staff
The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a position in the federal government of the United States.
The chief of staff is a Political appointments in the United States, politi ...
beginning in the new year. Prior to Trump's election, Mulvaney had characterized the future president as a "terrible human being," said he would be disqualified from office in an "ordinary universe," and described Trump's views on a wall on the US-Mexico border as "absurd and almost childish". On March 6, 2020, President Trump named Congressman Mark Meadows
Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 under the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representat ...
as Mulvaney's replacement.
Tenure
Upon assuming office as chief of staff, Mulvaney appointed several individuals with views similar to his to White House positions, most notably Joe Grogan to lead the United States Domestic Policy Council.
In March 2019, Mulvaney said, "every single (health care) plan that this White House has ever put forward since Donald Trump was elected covered pre-existing conditions." The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
described the claim as "misleading" and PolitiFact
PolitiFact.com is an American nonprofit project operated by the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, with offices there and in Washington, D.C. It began in 2007 as a project of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' (then the ''St. Petersburg Times ...
rated this assertion "mostly false", stating that all the health care proposals supported by the White House would have weakened protections for individuals with preexisting conditions, and led to gaps in health insurance coverage and higher premium rates.
On March 6, 2020, Trump tweeted that Republican North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows
Mark Randall Meadows (born July 28, 1959) is an American politician who served as the 29th White House chief of staff from 2020 to 2021 under the Trump administration. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the U.S. representat ...
would succeed Mulvaney as White House chief of staff. Meadows began serving at the end of March, thus replacing Mulvaney.
Mulvaney wrote an op-ed in the ''Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' three days after the November 2020 election day, titled "If He Loses, Trump Will Concede Gracefully: He'll fight hard to make sure the results are fair, and in the end he'll accept the result whatever it is." Trump did not do so after his loss in the 2020 United States presidential election
United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...
.
Trump–Ukraine scandal
Mulvaney was closely involved in the Trump–Ukraine scandal. In an October 17, 2019, press conference, Mulvaney said that military aid to Ukraine was in fact tied to President Trump's demand for an investigation into the 2016 election. Several hours later, in a statement released by the White House, Mulvaney sought to deny or reinterpret his earlier statements, stating "there was absolutely no quid pro quo
''Quid pro quo'' (Latin: "something for something") is a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is contingent upon the other; "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: " ...
between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election".
OMB emails released
On January 22, 2020, Mulvaney released a series of heavily redacted Office of Management and Budget
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...
(OMB) emails revealing details about how the OMB worked to carry out the freeze of aid for Ukraine.
Conspiracy beliefs regarding COVID
In February 2020, Mulvaney alleged that claims of a deep state working against President Trump were "absolutely 100% true." Later that month, Mulvaney suggested that the media was exaggerating the dangers of COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
in order to "bring down" President Trump.
Subsequent career
Upon his resignation as chief of staff, Mulvaney was named special envoy for Northern Ireland, a role which had last been held by Gary Hart, but had gone unfilled since Trump's inauguration. His swearing-in was delayed due to the coronavirus epidemic, which also prevented him from making a planned trip to Northern Ireland as envoy in July 2020. Because of social distancing restrictions, he was sworn in via a FaceTime
FaceTime is a proprietary videotelephony product developed by Apple. FaceTime is available on supported iOS mobile devices running iOS 4 and later and Mac computers that run and later. FaceTime supports any iOS device with a forward-facin ...
call on May 1, 2020.
In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, ''The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' published an op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
by Mulvaney which argued that Trump would concede if he lost the election; after Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
won the election and Trump did not concede, ''Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...
'' named Mulvaney's prediction one of "the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications about the year."
Mulvaney resigned his position as special envoy on the evening of January 6, 2021, following the U.S. Capitol protests in which a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building to protest the certification of President-elect Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
's Electoral College
An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...
victory. The next morning, Mulvaney told a CNBC
CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
reporter that his resignation had been principled: "We didn't sign up for what you saw last night. We signed up for making America great again, we signed up for lower taxes and less regulation." He added that Trump was "not the same as he was eight months ago." He suggested that other administration officials also planned to resign, while others planned to stay only to prevent Trump from filling their position with "someone worse" during his last two weeks in office.
In 2021, Mulvaney was mentioned as a possible replacement for Kay Coles James as president of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
In March 2022, CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
hired Mulvaney as a paid on-air contributor. CBS News co-president Neeraj Khemlani
Neeraj Khemlani served as president and co-head of CBS News and Stations from 2021 to 2023.
Early life and education
Khemlani was born in Singapore with Sindhi ancestry and was raised in New York City. He attended Cornell University, where he w ...
said that the choice was part of a conscious effort to hire more Republican commentators: "Being able to make sure that we are getting access to both sides of the aisle is a priority because we know the Republicans are going to take over, most likely, in the midterms." ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' reported that the decision was controversial among network employees, due to Mulvaney's history within the Trump administration and its adversarial attitude towards the news media.
Personal life
Mulvaney is a Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
. He married Pamela West, whom he met in line at a bookstore while he was a law student, in 1998. The couple have triplets (born in 2000), named Finn, James, and Caroline.
Mulvaney's brother, Ted, is portfolio manager for Braeburn Capital, the investment arm of Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley. It is best known for its consumer electronics, software, and services. Founded in 1976 as Apple Comput ...
See also
* Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (2019–2020)
Notes
References
External links
Profile
at Office of Management and Budget
*
, -
, -
, -
, -
, -
, -
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulvaney, Mick
1967 births
21st-century South Carolina politicians
American people of Irish descent
Businesspeople from South Carolina
Catholics from North Carolina
Catholics from South Carolina
Catholics from Virginia
CBS News people
Charlotte Catholic High School alumni
Directors of the Office of Management and Budget
Lawyers from Charlotte, North Carolina
Living people
People from Lancaster County, South Carolina
People of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Politicians from Alexandria, Virginia
Politicians from Charlotte, North Carolina
Republican Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina
Republican Party South Carolina state senators
South Carolina lawyers
Tea Party movement activists
First Trump administration cabinet members
United States special envoys
University of North Carolina School of Law alumni
Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
White House chiefs of staff
21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives
21st-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly