The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will immediately pause, and consider canceling, over $11 billion in projects due to the government shutdown, Trump administration budget chief Russell Vought said Friday.
“The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in an X post.
The paused funds pertain to “lower-priority projects” in cities including New York, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore, Vought said.
President Donald Trump and Vought have also described the congressional funding lapse as an “opportunity” to slash the federal bureaucracy.
The White House has also insisted that the shutdown will cause thousands of federal workers to be laid off.
The U. S. Russell Vought, the budget chief for the Trump administration, announced Friday that the Army Corps of Engineers will immediately halt and possibly cancel more than $11 billion in projects because of the government shutdown.
In an X post, Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, stated that the Army Corps of Engineers’ capacity to oversee billions of dollars in projects has been exhausted by the Democrat shutdown.
According to Vought, “lower-priority projects” in places like New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore are the subject of the paused funds.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which employs over 37,000 civilians and soldiers and offers a variety of public engineering services, did not immediately reply to CNBC’s inquiries regarding Vought’s post.
Vought was the first to highlight federal layoffs and funding pauses that the Trump administration claims are a result of the shutdown. Vought is a co-author of Project 2025, the right-wing manual for a significant government overhaul.
Both Vought and President Donald Trump have called the congressional funding lapse an “opportunity” to cut back on federal bureaucracy. Trump has stated time and time again that the priorities of Democrats are the only ones being targeted.
Vought said the administration was canceling about $8 billion in climate-related projects in Democratic-leaning states and freezing about $18 billion for two large infrastructure projects in New York City on the day the shutdown started.
Vought announced two days later that an additional $2.11 billion in Department of Transportation funding designated for the Chicago transit system had been frozen by the administration.
The shutdown will result in the layoff of thousands of federal employees, the White House has also insisted.
More than 4,000 reduction-in-force notices have been issued, according to the administration’s announcement last week. Vought stated on Wednesday that the overall number of job cuts would probably be “north of 10,000.”. “.
