The Trump administration has hit the brakes on $11 billion worth of infrastructure projects in a dozen mostly Democrat-run states — including New York, California, and Illinois — as the Schumer Shutdown grinds on.
White House budget director Russ Vought announced the decision on X, laying the blame squarely where it belongs: on Chuck Schumer and his party’s refusal to reopen the government. Vought explained that the Army Corps of Engineers can’t keep the projects running while Democrats keep the lights off in Washington.
And he didn’t mince words — Vought hinted that these projects might not just be paused, but scrapped entirely.
“The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” he announced. “The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects & considering them for cancellation, including projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore.”
The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers' ability to manage billions of dollars in projects. The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects & considering them for cancellation, including projects in New York, San Francisco,…
— Russ Vought (@russvought) October 17, 2025
According to Politico, 12 states have landed on the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) target list for halted infrastructure projects — and 11 of them are run by Democratic governors.
The lone Republican exception is New Hampshire, led by Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who has so far resisted President Trump’s calls to implement new redistricting reforms in her state.
Most of the affected cities are the usual suspects — deep-blue, sanctuary-city strongholds that bend over backward to protect illegal immigrants while demanding endless federal money.
An OMB spokesperson defended the decision to freeze the projects, telling Politico that “taxpayer dollars should not be subsidizing infrastructure in states led by governors ignoring federal law.”
Democratic Senators who represent these places are directly causing this to happen with their government shutdown filibuster. https://t.co/cDSyzzeO0c
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 17, 2025
It’s not like these blue states and cities didn’t see this coming. President Trump made it crystal clear on Tuesday that cuts to “programs that are Democrat programs” were on the way — and he wasn’t bluffing. He warned that if Schumer and his obstructionist caucus didn’t get their act together and end the shutdown, those cuts wouldn’t just be temporary. They’d be permanent.
“And they’re never going to come back in many cases,” the President said of “the most egregious, socialist, semi communist, probably not full communist” programs.
Since that warning, Democrats have doubled down — voting twice more to keep the government shut down and even blocking a standalone bill to fund the Pentagon. That’s right: they’re now holding national defense hostage just to protect their bloated pet programs.
And it’s starting to backfire. A new poll shows Americans are finally beginning to pin the blame where it belongs — on Democrats in Congress.
Russ Vought’s decision to make blue states share in the pain of their own political stunt is a gutsy and long-overdue move. As the Schumer Shutdown drags into its third week, there’s still no sign the left plans to compromise.
Of course, we all know what comes next — cue the activist judges. It’s only a matter of time before some Obama- or Biden-appointed federal judge steps in to block Trump’s team from cutting a single dime.
