President Donald Trump’s budget chief did not even try to hide that he was specifically targeting only blue states as he looks to slash billions amid the shutdown.
Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, announced that he was canceling $8 billion in clean energy projects. But he only listed states with Democratic senators that Trump did not win.
“Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled,” Vought wrote on X.
Nearly $8 billion in Green New Scam funding to fuel the Left’s climate agenda is being cancelled. More info to come from @ENERGY. The projects are in the following states: CA, CO, CT, DE, HI, IL, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA
— Russ Vought (@russvought) October 1, 2025
He did not share what projects he was looking to axe or where the money came from but wrote that the Energy Department would have more to share.
The projects included ones in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
All of those states are blue ones Trump did not win in 2024 with Democratic senators. Every one of the senators from the states voted against the Republican short-term spending bill to keep the government open.
The Daily Beast reached out to the Energy Department for more information.
“This administration has had plans in the works for months to cancel critical energy projects, and now, they are illegally taking action to kill jobs and raise people’s energy bills,” said Democratic Senator Patty Murray in a statement. “This is a blatant attempt to punish the political opposition, but this won’t just hurt Democrats–it’ll hurt regular people just trying to get by, in red districts and blue districts alike.”
The cancelled funds come as the U.S. is on Day 1 of a government shutdown after Democrats refused to go along with the Trump-backed GOP spending bill to fund the government through November 21.
Republicans need at least seven Democrats in the Senate for the bill to pass. They have held three votes on it so far but all have failed as Democrats demand Congress also address health care in the deal.
Vought’s move to punish blue states came after he also targeted the home state of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The budget chief wrote early Wednesday that his office was cancelling $18 billion for two infrastructure projects over DEI.
The Transportation Department said the two tunnel projects were under review and said withholding the funds was a direct result of the government shutdown.
Schumer and Jeffries slammed Vought for playing politics.
Some Republicans shrugged off the move and called for Democrats to vote for their bill to reopen the government, but others have been wary of the approach.
GOP Senator Thom Tillis early on Wednesday blamed Democrats for the shutdown, but he also warned the administration needed to “be careful” going forward not to take it too far.
It is not clear how long the shutdown will last. A bipartisan group of senators huddled on the Senate floor on Wednesday to discuss potential options.
According to Sen. Mike Rounds who was part of the group, the plan on the table was for the Senate to pass a 45-day funding bill, which would give them time to address the health care issues Democrats have demanded be addressed.
However, when asked if there could be a shorter bill to open the government while also working on health care, he said that would be up to leadership.
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