The White House will freeze US$11 billion (A$16.95 billion) worth of infrastructure projects in Democratic states if the federal government shutdown continues, according to White House budget director Russell Vought.
In a social media post, Vought said the United States Army Corps would pause on “low priority” projects in cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore and said the projects would eventually be cancelled.
According to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Donald Trump “wants to reorient how the federal government prioritises Army Corps projects”.
The New York projects account for $7 billion of the total with other affected projects in Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware, OMB said.
All of these states voted against Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
"Halting lifesaving levee and infrastructure projects that protect red and blue communities alike puts Americans at risk.... Trump is weaponising his federal shutdown to attack communities and Americans he perceives as his political enemies,” a spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom said.
This comes as the Trump administration has already frozen at least US$28 billion in transportation and energy projects for Democratic-controlled cities and states to pressure them into ending the shutdown, which began on 1 October.
Trump has also sought to cut thousands of jobs; however, these plans were temporarily blocked.
So far, the shutdown is set to cost $15 billion per day, and airlines have warned that it will have a negative impact on travel if it continues.
