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The White House halted roughly $26 billion of financial support for Democrat-led states, implementing a warning to use the government shutdown to target initiatives favored by Democrats.

Impacted Projects

These impacted projects comprised about $18 billion for public transit developments in New York, home to Congress’s senior Democrats, and around $8 billion for renewable energy initiatives in 16 Democratic-run states, including California and Illinois.

Vice-president JD Vance, at the same time, cautioned that the administration could broaden its removal of federal workers if the shutdown lasts more than a short period.

Government Actions

These actions made clear that Trump intended to carry out his warning to take advantage of the shutdown to target his adversaries and expand his influence over the seven trillion dollar national budget.

Vance said at a official update that the administration might have to initiate job cuts if the shutdown extends beyond a short period, increasing the three hundred thousand who will be laid off by December.

Previous shutdowns have avoided permanent layoffs.

Inaccurate Statements

Vance employed false claims to blame Democrats for the federal closure. Making a rare appearance in the press briefing area, Vance told reporters: “We are going to have to cut jobs if the closure continues.”

He denied that staff would be singled out because of their political allegiance but admitted there was still doubt over who may be laid off.

The vice-president claimed, “the Chuck Schumer-AOC wing of the Democratic party shut down the government because they insisted to us, we will restart the federal operations only if you provide billions of dollars of money to healthcare for illegal aliens. That’s a ridiculous proposition.”

Additionally, it is a false claim.

Political Finger-Pointing

National Democratic leaders vowed to bring their case to the American people that the blame for the shutdown crisis is exclusively due to Donald Trump and the GOP and their assaults on health services funding, as the US began the initial federal closure in almost seven years.

GOP leaders squarely blamed their political opponents.

Infrastructure Initiative

Donald Trump's administration stated that it was suspending about $18 billion to finance a proposed railway passage under the river between NYC and New Jersey and the city’s subway extension initiative – due to the federal closure.

Additional Developments

• The Pope vocally opposed Donald Trump’s tough border measures, questioning whether they were consistent with the Catholic church’s “pro-life” doctrines.
• Economists are feeling reassured that the White House pulled back its nomination for head of the government data agency, the federal body that reports key economic data.
• A rapper who previously accompanied Trump during a campaign rally has been received half a decade in jail after he admitted to encouraging criminal activity in Brooklyn.