(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Republican senators warned President Donald Trump that an “aggressive” shutdown strategy will “squander” the party’s “moral high ground” in pushback against moves to impose cuts and mass firings.
Russ Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, who threatened mass layoffs days before the shutdown was final, has already frozen $18 billion in infrastructure money for New York and $8 billion in clean-energy projects across 16 states, most of them Democratic strongholds.
Vought has the backing of Trump himself, who on Thursday demanded Republicans “clear out dead wood” from the federal government.
The actions have already caused alarm among even Republicans who rallied behind the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk’s experiment in federal downsizing.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a member of the Senate DOGE Caucus, slammed Vought in comment to Semafor: “Russ is less politically in tune than the president.”
He added:” “We, as Republicans, have never had so much moral high ground on a government funding bill in our lives. I just don’t see why we would squander it, which I think is the risk of being aggressive with executive power in this moment.”
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) slammed the freezing of New York projects as “totally unacceptable,” warning that blocking work on the Hudson Tunnel would have real consequences in the wake of recent storm damage.
Speaking to HuffPost, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) also cautioned that targeting blue states “can create a toxic environment here.”
“They need to be really careful with that,” he said.
He continued: “So hopefully they’re working with the leader, and the leader with them, on not creating more work to get us out of this.”
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