President Trump has embarked on a legally dubious campaign to weaponize the federal budget during a contentious government shutdown, halting more than $27 billion in approved funding in a bid to punish Democratic-led cities and states.
Rather than broker a legislative truce or seek to ameliorate the fallout of a costly fiscal stalemate, the president has leveraged the crisis to exact revenge on rivals, slash federal spending and pressure Democrats into accepting his political demands.
Since the shutdown started on Wednesday, the Trump administration has canceled or delayed federal aid to 16 states, most of them run by Democrats. In the latest example, Russell T. Vought, the White House budget director, said on Friday that the administration would halt about $2.1 billion in approved funding for long-planned transit improvements in Chicago.
Mr. Vought claimed the pause was necessary to ensure that the city, which is led by a Democratic mayor in a state with a Democratic governor, had not engaged in “race-based contracting.”
The White House has also targeted New York, the home state of Democrats’ congressional leaders, and canceled nearly $7.6 billion in federal green-energy funding, predominantly in Democratic-led states. On Friday, the Trump administration said it could look to slash unspecified aid to Portland soon, after earlier stripping away some of Oregon’s infrastructure money.
“Without a doubt, blue states are on the front lines of the attacks,” said New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, a Democrat. “They’re coming after us.”
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The post Trump Seizes On Shutdown to Punish Political Foes appeared first on New York Times.
