President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that his administration intends to leverage the ongoing government shutdown to permanently eliminate government programs favored by Democrats, marking his latest threat during the funding deadlock.
“We are exclusively cutting Democrat programs,” Trump declared during a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
It was unclear right away which programs Trump was referencing, but he indicated they were “very popular Democrat programs that aren’t favored by Republicans, honestly.”
“They asked for this,” Trump remarked, intensifying his blame on Democrats for the shutdown.
They will “experience a bit of their own treatment,” he remarked.
The president’s warning to focus on Democratic priorities surfaced one week after he initially suggested causing difficulties for his political adversaries during the shutdown, which is now in its ninth day.
In a Truth Social post last Thursday, he indicated that the congressional funding impasse provided him with an “unparalleled chance” to cut what he termed “Democrat Agencies.”
He also mentioned that he would consult with Russell Vought, the head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, to decide what to eliminate.
On the initial day of the shutdown, Vought declared that the administration was suspending around $18 billion in funding for infrastructure projects in New York City, and was canceling about $8 billion more in climate-related funding for states that lean Democratic.
Two days later, Vought stated that $2.1 billion in funding for transit projects in Chicago had also been paused.
The administration is reviewing plans to scrap an additional $12 billion allocated for clean energy initiatives, Semafor reported on Tuesday.
The shutdown commenced on October 1 after Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress failed to pass appropriations bills to maintain government funding past the end of the fiscal year.
Republicans are advocating for a temporary measure to continue funding largely at existing levels through November 21. Democrats insist that any funding bill should include further health-care safeguards, such as prolonging premium Affordable Care Act tax credits before they lapse at year’s end.
The conflicting proposals have repeatedly been blocked in the Senate.
