Vought Says Shutdown Forcing Army Corps Of Engineers To Pause Projects In Democrat Cities

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said Friday that the ongoing government shutdown is forcing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to halt billions of dollars in infrastructure projects.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to headline an anti-Trump “No Kings” rally this weekend as Democrats hold firm on keeping the government shut down. In a post on X, Vought said the standoff has forced the Army Corps of Engineers to pause roughly $11 billion in funding for “lower-priority projects” in major Democratic cities.

“The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” Vought wrote. “The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects & considering them for cancellation, including projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Baltimore. More information to come from the Army Corps of Engineers.”

The announcement highlights the growing fallout from the third week of the federal funding lapse, which has already furloughed thousands of government workers and disrupted services nationwide. In a Wednesday appearance on “The Charlie Kirk Show,” Vought said the government may ultimately dismiss more than 10,000 federal employees as part of a broader effort to downsize Washington’s bureaucracy.

“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy, not just the funding but the bureaucracy, that we now have an opportunity to do that, and that’s where we’re going to be looking for our opportunities,” Vought said.

Hours later, however, a federal judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked