1 of 4 | President Donald Trump takes questions in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. The president said he’s meeting with OMB Director Russell Vought to discuss cuts to federal programs amid a government shutdown. Photo by Francis Chung/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump said he plans to meet with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought on Thursday to determine which “Democrat agencies” to cut as the government shutdown enters its second day.
Trump said Democrats gave him an “unprecedented opportunity” to eliminate federal spending by declining to pass a Republican-backed short-term funding measure to keep the government open this week. Congress faced an Oct.1 deadline to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government, but couldn’t secure enough votes from Democrats in the Senate.
At issue are subsidies for Affordable Care Act premiums set to expire in the new year. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party wouldn’t support the stopgap legislation unless it included provisions extending the ADA subsidies.
The Trump administration has said it’s against extending the ADA subsidies, falsely claiming undocumented immigrants are taking advantage of it. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for health insurance under the ADA, according to the federal healthcare.gov website.
White House spokesman Kush Desai echoed these talking points in a statement Wednesday.
“The very real economic consequences of a prolonged government shutdown are entirely on Senate Democrats, who are holding the federal government, economy and country hostage to give illegal immigrants free healthcare,” Desai said.
Trump’s post on Truth Social on Thursday indicated he not only wants to end the ADA subsidies but also wants to cut federal funding elsewhere to get Democrats on board with the stopgap bill.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump wrote.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity. They are not stupid people, so maybe this is their way of wanting to, quietly and quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Meanwhile, during an appearance Thursday morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned the government shutdown, which went into effect midnight Tuesday, could hurt economic growth in the United States.
“This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP,” he said. “We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth and a hit to working America.”
A memo issued by Trump’s economic advisers on Wednesday warned the United States could lose $15 billion in GDP each week of the shutdown. The Council of Economic Advisers said that if the shutdown extends for a month, it could lead to 43,000 job losses, according to Politico, which viewed the memo.
