White House’s First Salvo in Shutdown Showdown Targets New York Infrastructure Funds To Punish Schumer, Jeffries

The White House Office of Management and Budget, in one of its first acts since the government shut down, is taking aim squarely at Senator Chuck Schumer and the House Democratic leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. The OMB says it is freezing $18 billion in funds for New York City infrastructure projects. Messrs. Schumer and Jeffries say they are committed to keeping the government closed until they win some kind of extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits. On Tuesday, Senate Democrats blocked the government funding deal, which requires 60 votes in the upper chamber. Just three members of the Democratic caucus voted for the bill. On Wednesday, less than 12 hours after the shutdown began, the director of the OMB, Russ Vought, said he is freezing the funds intended for New York City — the hometown of both Messrs. Schumer and Jeffries. “Roughly $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles,” Mr. Vought said on X Wednesday morning. “More info” will “come soon” from the Department of Transportation, he says. Mr. Vought says the two projects on hold are the Second Avenue subway, which runs down the east side of Manhattan, and the Hudson River tunnel project, a plan to build an additional rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey under the Hudson River to ease commuter congestion in the area. The consequences of the shutdown could be monumental, depending on how long Democrats continue to block the funding bill. As of Wednesday morning, there are 750,000 federal employees scheduled to be furloughed. The daily cost could be around $400 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office. President Trump has said that he thinks Republicans will easily win the politics of the shutdown no matter how long it lasts. On Tuesday, he told reporters that closing the government only empowers him to take aim at Democratic priorities, which he thinks could force some lawmakers to fold in the Senate. The GOP majority in the chamber needs only five more Democrats in order to pass the legislation. “We can do things during the shutdown that are irreversible that are bad for them and irreversible by them, like cutting vast numbers of people out, cutting things that they like, cutting programs that they like,” Mr. Trump said in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

White House’s First Salvo in Shutdown Showdown Targets New York Infrastructure Funds To Punish Schumer, Jeffries

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