Trump halted nearly $28B in funding amid the shutdown. Most was going to Democratic strongholds

Donald Trump’s campaign of retribution against Democratic officials and political enemies appears to have extended to the congressional districts represented by some of his sharpest critics.

The Trump administration, using cover of a government shutdown to cancel billions of dollars in federal funding, has overwhelmingly pulled that money from Democratic-held districts.

Nearly $28 billion in federal funding has been frozen or canceled from Democratic districts, according to a review from The New York Times. The administration pulled roughly $738 million from Republican districts, by comparison.

But a vast majority of the funding freeze targets Democratic-led states, including GOP-held districts in those states. Only two grants from more than 200 were pulled from Republican-held districts in Republican-led states.

Those funds, often the result of years of debate among lawmakers before their approval, were unilaterally blocked by the White House as the adminstration seeks to punish Democratic members of Congress for the impasse that triggered the shutdown — raising major legal questions about Trump’s ongoing strategy of going around Congress to control taxpayer money.

Most of those funds were supposed to support critical transportation infrastructure projects as well as upgrades to electrical grids and clean energy projects, most of which were in Democratic strongholds in New York, California and Illinois.

Administration officials have argued that the decision to block the grants aligned with the president’s war against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, but they have explicitly linked the timing of those cuts to the shutdown, which they squarely blame Democrats for causing.

Trump has called the shutdown an “unprecedented opportunity” to make cuts permanent.

On the first day of the shutdown, White House budget director Russell Vought announced roughly $18 billion for New York City infrastructure projects were “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles.” That includes a dozen grants totaling more than $17 billion for Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman’s district, which spans parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The Department of Transportation also said a review of “New York’s unconstitutional practices will take more time” because of the shutdown. The freeze targets the $16 billion Hudson River tunnel project, a major rail tunnel between New Jersey and Manhattan. A disbursement of $300 million in funding for New York’s Second Avenue subway project was immediately frozen.

“Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are playing politics with the government shutdown, and New York's economy and hard-working families are paying the price,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement at the time. “These cuts directly impact local businesses and major companies, putting workers out of jobs, shuttering factories, and slowing our state's economic progress. New York Republicans should grow a spine, stand with our workers and demand that President Trump restore this funding.”

Another $2.1 billion for Chicago’s transit upgrades were also blocked, as well as roughly $3 billion from across California.

Two days after the shutdown, the administration announced it was pulling $7.6 billion in previously approved grants for dozens of energy-related projects in 16 states — 14 of which are led by Democrats.

Trump has repeatedly said that his administration would use the shutdown to go after “Democrat programs,” telling reporters Tuesday that his administration explicitly wants to “close up” projects that “we never wanted to happen."

“The Democrats are getting killed on the shutdown because we're closing up programs that are Democrat programs that we were opposed to,” he said. “They’re never going to come back in many cases.”

At the same time, he said he would spare “Republican programs.”

After his administration faced an onslaught of legal challenges after a so-called Department of Government Efficiency slashed the federal workforce, the White House has invoked the shutdown to not just furlough thousands of workers but permanently remove their positions.

More than 4,000 federal workers were told that they would be fired due to the shutdown, though hundreds of those notices were rescinded, after the administration fired critical workers at the nation’s public health agency in “error.”

Those moves are designed to pressure Democrats to effectively concede to GOP demands to end the shutdown, though Democrats have resisted caving to a budget measure that fails to extend soon-expiring federal health subsidies.

“Their intimidation tactics are not working and will continue to fail,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday.