
Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, sidestepped lawmaker's questions during a hearing on Wednesday.

Russell Vought, Donald Trump's acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, would not admit this week to data showing President Barack Obama created 8.9 million jobs by the end of his second term in December 2016.

When President George W. Bush left office during the Great Recession, 143.4 million Americans were at work. By the time Obama left, that number had risen to 152.3 million.

Vought was confronted about those figures during a hearing before the House Budget Committee on Wednesday.


From the Feb. 12 hearing:

REP. ALBIO SIRES (D-NJ): I was here when Obama took over. How was the economy then? Was it a disaster? RUSSELL VOUGHT: We were in the middle of a significant recession. SIRES: I remember [former Treasury Secretary Hank] Paulson coming — I was in Financial Services — Paulson coming in and telling me that the world was coming to an end, financial houses are going under, auto industry going under. In over 8 years, did the Obama administration create jobs? VOUGHT: My recollection of the Obama administration is that they lost 200 million – 200,000 manufacturing jobs. SIRES: No, we're losing manufacturing jobs with this administration, no sir. I'm not talking about manufacturing jobs. Were there jobs created during the Obama administration? By the end of his term? VOUGHT: I can't tell you based on where it started versus where it ended but we lost manufacturing jobs — SIRES: I just love the selective memory that you have. All I can tell you is: This president in three years, you would think that he has done this wonderful thing that it was never done before. Jobs were created, growth was there by the end of the Obama administration and I've got to put up with this nonsense that we somehow didn't do anything to save this country. We saved the auto industry, we saved AIG, we saved some of these banks and yet he thinks he did it all by himself. Like I said you're good, you've got all the right lingo. Thank you very much.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.