Some Republicans fear President Trump’s shutdown cuts
Washington – President Donald Trump has adopted federal closure as an “unprecedented opportunity” to reduce spending and reduce the government, but new targeted White House expenses aimed at democratic states and priorities arouse concerns among the Republicans that they could risk cedar their political advantage.
Congress Republicans think they are holding over the four -day dead end, because the Democrats voted against the measures to keep the government open because they want to attach additional political measures. But the scanning cuts in the projects of the original state – and the threat of federal mass dismissals – have in the GOP fearing that the White House to go too far and to potentially give the Democrats a means of getting out of their point of hand.
“It is certainly the most moral republicans of the high terrain had in a moment like this one of which I remember, and I simply do not like to waste this political capital when you have this kind of high terrain,” the senator of the North Dakota Kevin Cramer said this week.
While hopes faded on Friday for a quick end to closure – Democrats firmly in a key vote in the Senate – the White House reported more layoffs and agency cuts could follow. Trump shared a video Thursday evening representing the director of the Russ Budget Vought as the Grim Reaper. The cuts raise new questions as to whether voters want a government that uses discretion to punish political opponents – and if the Republicans can face electoral consequences for the actions of the White House.
“There are the political ramifications that could cause upheavals,” said Cramer in another interview. “It makes you more difficult for us.”
Since the start of the closure, Trump has decided to cancel $ 7.6 billion in clean energy grants in 16 states, which all voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential election last year. On Friday, the administration announced an additional reduction of $ 2 billion, this time to a large public transport project in Chicago. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is also examining funding in Portland, Oregon.
“He simply removed the map and highlighted all the blue states,” said Oregon senator Ron Wyden, a democrat, to the Associated Press.
Democrats have grasped the closure and the cuts as proof of Trump’s overtaking. There could be short -term benefits, including in next month’s governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia. The Democratic candidates of the two states linked their opponents of the GOP to Trump policies and criticized them for not having defended his last movements.
In New Jersey, Democratic representative Mikie Sherrill has castigated Republican Jack Ciattarelli about Trump’s decision to block the funding of a rail tunnel for a long time between New York and New Jersey, saying that it would injure commuters and put thousands of good employees.
“What’s wrong with this guy?” Sherrill said on Friday.
In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger noted that the state had already been touched by the job cuts carried out by the Trump government ministry. She declared that the Republican lieutenant of Governor WinSome Earle-Sears “refuses to defend our workforce and our economy”.
Earle-Sears said the Democrats are to blame for the closure and said Spanberger had done nothing to encourage the State Democratic Senators to stop it.
The targeting by the administration of blue states has already started to wave through states such as California, where funding of $ 1.2 billion for the state hydrogen hub has been rebuilt. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said he threatened more than 200,000 jobs.
Although Harris won California easily in 2024, the state includes several competitive house districts that could decide to control the room in 2026. Similar districts exist in other states affected by the cuts, including New York and the New Hampshire, which also has key governors and Senate races.
Democratic groups quickly moved to link local Republicans to the benefits. American Bridge 21st century, a democratic group, highlighted the Republicans of the Swing District in the states where cuts occurred, accusing them of “sitting and letting this happen”.
“The cruelty they could trigger on everyday Americans using the pretension of a closure will only turn against them,” said the Democrat chief of Hakeem Jeffries in an interview with the Associated Press and other points of sale in Capitol.
The cuts also complicate the negotiations of the Senate, extending a closure which could leave thousands of federal workers without salary and interrupt key programs. Senator Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat whom the Republicans tried to swing, said “there was no doubt that the cuts damaged the talks.
“If you try to make people come together and try to find common ground, it’s the wrong way to do it,” said Peters.
Senator Angus King, a Maine Independent, separated from Democrats earlier this week to support the GOP financing bill. He called the “so partially partisan cuts that they are almost laughable.”
“If they go beyond, which is quite possible, I think they will also be in trouble with the Republicans,” said King.
Many Republicans of the Senate have not approved Vought’s approach directly, accusing the Democrats rather of rejected the funding bills and opening the door to the most aggressive movements of the White House.
“This is the reason why the Republicans continued to support a continuation,” said GOP senator Mike Rounds of the southern Dakota. “If you have noticed, the Republicans strongly supported this continuous resolution in the short term because we do not want to see this.”
“It’s not like we promoted it,” said Rounds. “We have done everything we can right now to try to avoid it.”
The journalist of Associated Press Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
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