By Andy Sullivan
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said he will meet with his budget director Russell Vought on Thursday to determine which "Democrat Agencies" to cut, in a sign that he could use the second day of the government shutdown to inflict pain on his political opponents.
"I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity," Trump said in a social media post.
Trump has already frozen federal transit and green-energy funding for Democratic-leaning states and has threatened
to fire more federal workers during the shutdown, which began on Wednesday due to a partisan standoff in Congress. Trump is already on track to push out 300,000 federal workers by the end of the year.
In his post, Trump mentioned Vought's involvement with Project 2025, a plan by the conservative Heritage Foundation that calls for radically downsizing the federal government. Trump's administration has sought to implement many aspects of that plan, such as dismantling the Department of Education and curtailing the government's power to fight pollution.
The government shutdown, the 15th since 1981, has suspended scientific research, financial oversight, economic data reports, and a wide range of other activities.
Some 750,000 federal workers have been ordered not to work, while others, such as troops and Border Patrol agents, are ordered to work without pay. A prolonged shutdown could disrupt air travel and threaten food aid for 7 million Americans. Major benefit programs, like Social Security, will continue to send out payments.
The shutdown was triggered at midnight Tuesday, when Democrats and Republicans were unable to agree on a spending bill that would have allowed agency operations to continue past October 1, the start of the new fiscal year. Democrats insist that any funding bill must also extend health subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year, while Republicans say the two issues must be dealt with separately.
The shutdown will persist at least until Friday, when the Senate next convenes to address the issue.
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, Doina Chiacu and Brendan O'Brien; writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Katharine Jackson, Aidan Lewis and Nick Zieminski)
