President Donald Trump has expanded federal authority to target Democratic-led states during an ongoing government shutdown, prompting Democratic backlash for reallocating funds. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Trump has closed five regional offices in Democratic states while keeping four open in Republican states. Critics argued the measures are a result of partisan favoritism and raised concerns over a lack of equitable access to federal services.
Trump said, “We’ll be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren’t popular with Republicans, frankly, because that’s the way it works. They wanted to do this, so we’re going to give them a little taste of their own medicine.”
The administration has blocked energy projects in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts while allowing projects in Republican-led Virginia. Funding cuts also include $18 billion for New York infrastructure and $7.6 billion in clean energy grants for states who backed former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said, “This has been true of Donald Trump’s whole approach to politics — he doesn’t want to unify America. He governs by division, he stokes anger, and obviously in a perverse way that has worked for him in the past. But I think it is one thing to do that in a campaign, and another to govern through division.”
Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) said, “It quacks like a duck and it walks like a duck — and it sure looks like he’s targeting blue states. I’m not sure what they are after, other than he is a retaliatory, vindictive kind of guy. I do think there may be an effort to shift the focus from health care costs that Democrats have linked to the government shutdown.”
Several Democratic states have sued the federal government, alleging that funding cuts violate equitable grant practices. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said, “He is targeting Democratic cities, blue cities — and especially blue cities in blue states. There are blue cities in red states, but he’s targeting blue cities in blue states — and particularly blue governors, Democratic governors.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-accuse-trump-of-targeting-blue-states/ss-AA1P9VXD
