President Donald Trump’s administration yesterday froze funding for major transportation projects in New York, home to Congress’s top two Democrats, as it carried through on a threat to use the government shutdown to target Democratic priorities.
The funding freeze came as the 15th government shutdown since 1981 suspended scientific research, financial oversight, environmental clean-up efforts and a wide range of other activities.
The administration also targeted $8 billion for green-energy projects in 16 Democratic states, including California and Illinois.
Some 750,000 federal workers were ordered not to work, while others, such as troops and border patrol agents, were ordered to work without pay.
The Department of Veterans Affairs said it would provide burials at national cemeteries, but would not erect headstones or mow the grass.
Trump has threatened to use the shutdown to extend a purge of the US civil service that is already on track to push out more than 300,000 workers by December, but he did not announce any immediate job cuts.
Instead, the administration extended its pattern of targeting Democratic cities and states through funding cuts.
“Unfortunately, because the Democrats shut down the government, the president has directed his Cabinet and the Office of Management and Budget is working with agencies across the board to identify where cuts can be made and we believe that layoffs are imminent,” White House Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
On Capitol Hill, the Senate again rejected efforts to keep the government functioning as both a Republican proposal that would fund the government through November 21 and a Democratic vote that would pair funding with additional health benefits failed in floor votes.
Trump’s Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, but they need the support of at least seven of Schumer’s Democrats to meet the chamber’s 60-vote threshold for spending bills.
At issue on the government funding front is $1.7 trillion for agency operations, which amounts to roughly one-quarter of the government’s total $7trn budget.
A bipartisan group of senators huddled on the floor during the vote, trying to find common ground for a path forward.
Several government agencies posted notices on their websites blaming the ‘radical left’ for the shutdown – a breach of long-standing Washington norms and a law known as the Hatch Act meant to insulate nuts-and-bolts government services from partisan politics.
Vice President JD Vance issued an unusual warning about air safety, noting that air traffic controllers and airport security personnel would be working without pay.
“If you’re flying today, I hope, of course, you arrive safely and on time, but you may not arrive on time,” Vance said on Fox News.
The longest US government shutdown stretched more than 35 days in 2018-2019 during Trump’s first term.
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