CanvasCrypt
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The Trump Administration Unveils New Strategy as Government Shutdown Enters 17th Day.
The White House Office of Management and Budget announced on Friday that it will pause over $11 billion in Army Corps of Engineers projects, with four cities - New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore - being particularly affected. The move, aimed at increasing pressure on Democratic lawmakers, is part of the administration's efforts to secure support for a GOP-backed stopgap funding measure.
According to Russ Vought, director of the budget office, the pause will immediately halt lower-priority projects and consider them for cancellation, a strategy that has been used by the Trump administration since the beginning of the shutdown. The move is seen as an attempt to force Democrats to back down on their opposition to the funding bill.
The decision comes after the administration has already frozen roughly $18 billion in New York City, canceled $8 billion for climate-related efforts in 16 states, and withheld $2.1 billion in Chicago. All of these cities are represented by Democrats in the Senate, making it a key battleground in the administration's pressure campaign.
The move also comes as thousands of federal workers face layoffs due to the shutdown, which has entered its 17th day. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with the job cuts, citing concerns that they were politically motivated.
While the Trump administration is trying to ramp up pressure on Democrats, their efforts have so far been unsuccessful. The funding bill passed the House last month but failed to gain traction in the Senate, where a 10th vote to resolve the logjam was defeated on Thursday. It remains to be seen how the administration's strategy will play out over the next week.
The White House Office of Management and Budget announced on Friday that it will pause over $11 billion in Army Corps of Engineers projects, with four cities - New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore - being particularly affected. The move, aimed at increasing pressure on Democratic lawmakers, is part of the administration's efforts to secure support for a GOP-backed stopgap funding measure.
According to Russ Vought, director of the budget office, the pause will immediately halt lower-priority projects and consider them for cancellation, a strategy that has been used by the Trump administration since the beginning of the shutdown. The move is seen as an attempt to force Democrats to back down on their opposition to the funding bill.
The decision comes after the administration has already frozen roughly $18 billion in New York City, canceled $8 billion for climate-related efforts in 16 states, and withheld $2.1 billion in Chicago. All of these cities are represented by Democrats in the Senate, making it a key battleground in the administration's pressure campaign.
The move also comes as thousands of federal workers face layoffs due to the shutdown, which has entered its 17th day. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with the job cuts, citing concerns that they were politically motivated.
While the Trump administration is trying to ramp up pressure on Democrats, their efforts have so far been unsuccessful. The funding bill passed the House last month but failed to gain traction in the Senate, where a 10th vote to resolve the logjam was defeated on Thursday. It remains to be seen how the administration's strategy will play out over the next week.
think about all those federal workers who are gonna lose their jobs and what about all that money being paused? $11 billion is crazy! 
i feel bad for san francisco, they were planning to do some major projects 
hope democrats can find a way outta this mess soon 
. And now thousands of people are losing their jobs because of this... that's just messed up 
. Can't they just negotiate in good faith or something? This whole thing feels like a big game of chicken, and I'm just not convinced it's going to end well 
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its like a game changer... and i was thinking about how we need more funding for our local community centers to have these kinds of events where people can just hang out and be social without having to worry about the price tag... anyway back to this shutdown thingy yeah it seems kinda harsh to me that they're halting projects in cities with democrats in senate but at the same time i get why they wanna push for that funding bill 
The fact that thousands of people are gonna lose their jobs due to this is just... *sigh* 
. I mean, I get it, they want their funding bill passed and all that jazz... but pausing projects like that? It's just gonna affect so many people's lives, you know? Like, the Army Corps of Engineers projects in those cities are huge deals for local communities. And what about all the construction workers who already have jobs lined up? 
. I mean, come on, $11 billion just pauses? What's gonna happen to all those people who got hired for these projects? It's not like they're just gonna magically disappear. And four cities? That's just cherry-picking, you know? They think by hitting New York and San Francisco, they'll force the Democrats to cave in. Newsflash: it's not gonna work 
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The fact that a judge had to step in and block the Trump admin from moving forward with job cuts is pretty wild too... I mean, it's like they're trying to hide something 
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. We'll see how that plays out, but for now, my patience is wearing thin 
. The $11 billion thing seems like a pretty big move, but what if they actually do cancel some projects? That'd be super bad for those cities. 
New York City alone is already getting slammed with $18 billion in cuts... that's crazy! 
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. Can't they just find some common ground and get something done already? 
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due to this gov shutdown!!!1! the trump admin is tryin to strongarm dems into votin for that stopgap funding bill, but it's just not gonna work 
i mean, we got thousands of federal workers who r losin their paychecks bc of this 
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. And what's with all these cities getting frozen out? NYC and Chicago, I get it, they're Democrats, but can't we find a way to work together on this? 
The fact that they're doing this without any concrete solution in sight just makes me worry... what's the real endgame here?