President Trump said he would meet Thursday with Office and Management Budget Director Russell Vought for what he called an “unprecedented opportunity” to consider recommendations for cuts and firings across federal agencies.
Trump said the meeting would be “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.”
“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!” he wrote on Truth Social.
He called on Republicans to use the government shutdown to clear out what is no longer useful in the federal government, calling it “dead wood.”
“Republicans must use this opportunity of Democrat forced closure to clear out dead wood, waste, and fraud. Billions of Dollars can be saved. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump said on Truth Social late Wednesday.
The White House has embraced the government shutdown and said layoffs of federal workers will be in the coming days.
Trump had suggested Tuesday that his administration could make cuts to programs during a government shutdown, and his budget office last week directed agencies in a memo to prepare for mass firings.
When asked about the memo, Trump told One America News, “there could be firings, and that’s their fault,” blaming the Democrats.
“And it could also be other things. I mean, we could cut projects that they wanted, favorite projects, and they’d be permanently cut,” Trump said. “I’m allowed to cut things that should have never been approved in the first place, and I will probably do that.”
Vought announced Wednesday plans to cut billions in funding in transportation projects in New York City and energy projects in 16 mostly Democratic-led states.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Wednesday that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) had “walked right into” a trap by allowing the government to shut down.
“He’s handed President Trump the keys to the kingdom,” Johnson said on “The Moon Griffon Show,” adding that the shutdown could allow Republicans and the White House to “eliminate bloated, unnecessary federal programs that we would like to vote down, but we never had the votes in the Senate to do. Now we have the moment.”
