Oct. 17 (UPI) — The Army Corps of Engineers has paused work on $11 billion in low-priority projects while the federal government remains shut down amid a budget impasse in Congress.
The shutdown has deprived the corps of the funds needed to continue work on many projects, some of which might be canceled, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought said Friday in a post on X.
“The Democrat shutdown has drained the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage billions of dollars in projects,” Vought said.
“The Corps will be immediately pausing over $11 billion in lower-priority projects and considering them for cancellation.”
He said the pauses and potential cancellations would include projects in Baltimore, Boston, New York City and San Francisco.
Vought is the first Trump administration official to announce layoffs of federal workers and project pauses due to the government shutdown, CNBC reported.
Vought and President Donald Trump have called the shutdown an opportunity to reduce the size of the federal government.
The president has suggested Democrat-led cities, states and federal programs would be targeted as the funding fight continues in the Senate.
Vought said more information would be released regarding corps project pauses, which also might occur in locales that are not run by Democrats.
The four cities that Vought announced for pauses are led by Democrats and are located in states that have Democrats for their respective governors and representing them in the Senate.
The Trump administration already has paused $18 billion in infrastructure projects in New York City and $2.1billion in Chicago infrastructure projects, according to CBS News.
The administration also has canceled $8 billion for projects involving the climate in 16 states.