President Donald Trump said Thursday the administration will begin cutting programs backed by Democrats as the government shutdown stretches into its ninth day.
“We’re only cutting Democrat programs, I hate to tell you, but we are cutting Democrat programs,” the president said during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. “We will be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly.”
Trump, motioning to Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, said the administration will make permanent cuts to government programs that he views as Democratic priorities, but did not elaborate on specifics.
“That’s the way it works,” he said. “They wanted to do this so we will give them a little taste of their own medicine.”
Trump and administration officials have indicated many times that they’d make dramatic cuts, including mass layoffs, during a shutdown, but many of those cuts haven’t come to fruition.
Some have, however. Vought last week announced that the government froze nearly $2 billion for infrastructure projects in New York and canceled $8 billion in climate-related projects in Democratic-led states.
