Government Shutdown Gives Trump Yet Another Opportunity to Expand His Power

"As crucial services grind to a halt and federal workers go without pay, Donald Trump is using the ongoing government shutdown to do what he does best: grab more power. Last week, as the shutdown loomed, Trump gloated that his administration would use it as an excuse to shutter "Democrat agencies," whatever that means. It was, the MAGA leader said, an "unprecedented opportunity" that had been gifted to him by "Radical Left Democrats.""

"Meanwhile, Russell Vought, an intellectual architect of Project 2025 and the current head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), made it clear that the shutdown was an opportunity to simply axe congressionally approved spending mandates, especially if they involved money that disproportionately flowed to blue states. In a memo sent out to all government departments in the days leading up to the shutdown, Vought's OMB ordered agencies come up with reduction in force plans for projects, programs,"

"The administration then proceeded to pull $8 billion in clean energy grants from 16 blue states and suspend payments on $18 billion for federal transport infrastructure projects in the New York region. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also announced it would withhold hundreds of millions of dollars of FEMA disaster-preparedness grants from states until they recalculated their populations to reflect the recent mass deportations undertaken by the administration - a naked ploy to revise downwards th"

Federal services and pay paused during the shutdown created an opening for the administration to reallocate power and funding. Presidential rhetoric framed the shutdown as an opportunity to close so-called "Democrat agencies" and seize policy advantages. OMB head Russell Vought instructed agencies to design reduction-in-force plans targeting programs not aligned with presidential priorities, enabling cuts to congressionally approved spending. The administration rescinded $8 billion in clean-energy grants and suspended $18 billion for New York-area transport projects. FEMA withheld disaster-preparedness grants pending population recalculations tied to recent mass deportations, aiming to reduce aid allocations.

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