The budget director of the White House Russ Vought, who was portrayed as a Sensenmanns reaper in a video by President Donald Trump during the closure in October 2025, speaks to reporters in the US Capitol building on July 15, 2025 (photo of Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
Washington – The Trump government officials defended the decision to terminate federal projects in regions of the country on Friday that voted for Democrats and said the step was not political, but the efforts to reduce the size and scope of the government during the closure.
The Republican leaders in the congress also supported the decision of the White House of punishing democratic voters by unilaterally terminating the financing that legislators had approved on two parties. However, Democrats said it was an unacceptable escalation that further undermines the Contribution Authority of the Expenses.
“The President and (budget director of the White House) Russ Vought did not receive any additional authority in the context of a closure, and they shouldn’t pretend that they had it and they shouldn’t act like this, and they should certainly not threaten people,” said the Senate’s middle management, the member of the Senate Head of Head.
The spokesman Mike Johnson, R-La., During a press conference in the morning there was a bit of mixed message and said that President Donald Trump and other officials who should cancel the projects should be “hard”.
“Are you enjoying the great pleasure of it? No,” said Johnson, referring to the actual government. “He trolls the Democrats? Yes, because that’s what President Trump does and people enjoy it.”
Later in the day, Johnson decided to bring the house back into the meeting and cancel a second week of the floor voices, which means that the earliest that the chamber will return to Capitol Hill will be on October 14th.
Dill down ‘is not a joke’
Trump often posted on social media during the switch -off, including A video that is shown House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wears a sombrero and A video This seemed to be created by artificial intelligence, which was portrayed as a sense of ceiling.
Murray said when calling with reporters that the Republicans publish the videos, they show that they treat the shutdown as a “joke”.
“It’s not a joke. It’s real,” said Murray. “You have to stop mocking. You have to stop the child’s behavior. You have to stop hurt people and you have to work with us to solve a serious problem in front of our country.”
Jeffries, who was asked about the social media videos during a press conference, said that the Republicans are on “defense” about their guidelines in terms of health care and other topics.
“Donald Trump has behaved in a deeply unshakable and profound way and it is proof that the Republicans have a frail argument.
Projects in Chicago, New York, Blue States,
Johnson said he spoke to VOUGT – TO VOGHT – One of the authors From project 2025 who said He wanted “bureaucrats to be traumatic” – and that “has the pleasure of it”.
“Like us, Russ wants to see a smaller, more efficient, slimmer and more effective federal government. But he doesn’t want people to lose jobs. He doesn’t want that,” said Johnson. “But that is his responsibility. So he is very careful, methodological and very deliberately through to see which decisions can be made in the best interest of the American people. That is his obligation and that is his true desire.”
As a rule, the federal employees are classified as freed during a state closure, which means that they continue to work without paying or are put on vacation. Both categories receive the repayment as soon as the congress is correct for the approval of a Stopgap expenditure calculation.
But committed has indicated He would like to employ the shutdown as an excuse in order to dismiss the federal employees in masses, a step that was not undertaken in previous financing losses. He has also brought himself to social media several times in social media to announce canceled or stopped projects in areas of the country that do not regularly vote for Republicans.
On Wednesday, shortly after the start of the closure, VOUGHT wrote in a post that $ 18 billion in the financing of the transport department for the Hudson Tunnel project and the Second Ave Subway in New York City were brought into the queue. Both are in the democratic chairman of the Senate, Chuck Schumer and Jefffries’ home state.
VOUGT then said that the energy department would cancel climate financing of 8 billion US dollars that would be for projects in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delawaren, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont would.
The State Washington State Standard reported Part of the financing would have gone in the direction of the Pacific northwest hydrogen hub and the New Mexico source posted an article Detailing of some affected projects, including funds to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology for the third phase of a project … to develop a storage center on a commercial yardstick within the () San Juan basin. “
In addition, the financing of the transport department of $ 2.1 billion for the “Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple modernization project” in Chicago were frozen on Friday. Write it “put on ice to ensure that the financing does not flow through racial contracts.”
The democratic whip of Senate, Dick Durbin, represents Illinois, and the governor of the state, JB Pritzker, was with Trump about enforcing immigration in a public that increased the administration in Chicago. Pritzker has repeatedly rejected Trump’s inquiries to bring in the National Guard.
The majority leader of the Senate, John Thune, Rs.d., said during the press conference with spokesman Johnson that it makes sense that the Trump government would implement the switch -off by a political lens.
“I think you will make decisions that match your priorities,” said Thune. “And yes, you will have a different political view of the world than the Democrats.”
Luke act ask
The actions of the Trump administration officials raised questions about whether they could violate the Hech Act against the Huch Act, a law of 1939 that “restricts certain political activities of the federal employees”.
The special consultant’s office Write on his website The law is to “ensure that federal programs are managed in an impartial way in order to protect federal employees from political constraints in the workplace and ensure that the federal employees are advanced on the basis of merits and are not based on political affiliation.”
Any federal employee who has violated the law can be exposed to the service or a fine of up to 1,000 US dollars.
Public citizen Has submitted Numerous complaints against the Trump administration, in which it is claimed that banners and news that were published on government websites about shutdown violates the HUKE law.
“Even for an administration that regularly unanswered ethics guidelines, these messages are a particularly outrageous and clear sign that Trump and his cabinet see themselves as above the law on the law,” wrote Craig Holman, a state ethics expert in public space, in a statement.
As with many actions by the Trump government, every novel precedent of republican administration could be used by a future democratic president in a way that would very likely be harmful to republican voters and regions of the country that consistently support the GOP policy.
Diautens were still threatened
The press spokesman for the White House, Karoline Leavitt, said during an afternoon that the administrative officers try to determine where they should carry out additional expenses and layoffs during the production.
“The office for management and budget is currently in constant communication and contact with our cabinet secretaries and agencies across the board, unfortunately to identify where layoffs have to be carried out and where cuts have to take place,” said Leavitt. “But here, too, the Democrats have the opportunity to prevent this if they vote for the reopening of the government.”
Leavitt refused to say whether the government would return to plans to take over federal workers with the thousands or to terminate the funds for projects in democratic areas if Republicans and Democrats conclude a deal to reopen the government.
Leavitt said that the “blueprint” for the reduction of the size and scope of the federal government was what the president and administrative officers come up with after he was asked by a FOX News Reporter about Trump, which was written in a social media post at the beginning of this week that the president was “from Project 2025 fame” after the President was repeated from the document on the campaign path from Document on the campaign path.
