With the government’s stoppage (known as Shutdown) arriving on the second day, US President Donald Trump doubled the pressure on political opposition with funds cut that would be directed to blue states (Blue States, a term used for states that consistently voted for democrats), and has made threats to dismantle federal agencies that, according to Republican, are under the opposition control in Congress.
Trump announced that he would meet with the director of the Administration and Budget Department, Russell Voght, who had already said that mass layoffs of civil servants were “imminent” and could occur in “two days”.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, who named the 2025 project, to determine which of the many Democratic agencies, most of which is political fraud, he recommends that they are eliminated, and whether these cuts will be temporary or permanent,” the president wrote on the Truth Social platform.
The Republican leader, who blamed the opposition party to be the “architect” of the federal government’s stoppage, insisted that he could not believe that “radical democrats” had to give him this “unprecedented opportunity” to continue their efforts to reduce the federal government.
“They are not stupid people, so this may be their way to want, silent and quickly to make the US big again!” The president concluded, who has continually mocked by democratic leaders in charge of negotiations in congress on social networks.
The number of layoffs of federal civil servants due to the stoppage of the US government could reach “thousands,” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told the press on Thursday.
“These conversations and meetings would not be happening if the Democrats had voted to keep the government open,” Leavitt said.
On Wednesday, the Senate voted against two proposed budget proposals, respectively, by Democrats and Republicans to try to suspend the shutdown.
According to estimates from the Congress Budget Office, approximately 750,000 non -essential federal officials were temporarily dismissed as a result of the government’s partial stoppage.
At the same time, just over 1.5 million civil servants, including police and air traffic controllers, continue to work without salaries until administrative stoppage is resolved.
In addition to the threat of extinction of government agencies, Trump has already authorized a cut of federal funds to states governed by Democrats, which should directly harm voters from the minority leaders in Congress.
“About US $ 18 billion in infrastructure projects in New York City are paralyzed to ensure that financing is not flowing based on unconstitutional principles,” said Russell Voght’s director of the government’s management and budgeting office on Wednesday.
One of the projects is to build a new tunnel under the Hudson River that would connect the states of New York and New Jersey with a rail system, and the other is to expand a subway line that crosses eastern Manhattan island.
In addition to the cuts for New York, another 16 democratic states were hit by $ 8 billion in cuts for “green energy” programs.
