A growing number of Republican senators are publicly rebuking the Trump administration’s decision to suspend transportation funding to Democratic-led states amid the ongoing government shutdown.
According to the senators, the use of federal dollars as a weapon of political retaliation risks could further deepen divisions and undermine long-term bipartisan cooperation.
The administration’s move to freeze more than $11 billion in infrastructure funds for projects in states like New York, Massachusetts and California, all strongholds for Democrats, has sparked discomfort among Republicans who otherwise support the president’s broader fiscal standoff with Democrats, The Hill reports.
President Trump last week said his administration had “terminated” the Gateway Project, a $16 billion rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River connecting New York and New Jersey, stating that the decision is part of his effort to fight what he calls the “Democrat shutdown.” The White House budget office followed by announcing an immediate pause on transportation projects across major Democratic-leaning cities, citing strained federal resources.
However, some Republicans argue that the move goes too far.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska warned that halting approved infrastructure projects would unfairly hurt ordinary Americans, including Trump’s own supporters, living in blue states.
“You show me one blue state in America where you don’t have pockets of Republicans, of conservatives, of pro-Trump people,” Murkowski said. “Why are we being punitive? It makes no sense. Let’s not be punitive to Americans just to score political points.”
Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins of Maine agreed. “I’m not in favor of that,” she said, calling instead for Democrats to cooperate in reopening the government. Collins added that funding decisions “should be based on merit, not political affiliation.”
The administration’s freeze affects high-profile projects, including New York City’s Second Avenue Subway extension, two Cape Cod Canal bridges in Massachusetts and water infrastructure upgrades in Baltimore and San Francisco.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, called the move “an unlawful act of retaliation,” noting that bipartisan Congress had ratified the funds.
Other GOP senators expressed concern that such tactics could set a damaging precedent. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia said targeting blue states today could invite payback tomorrow. “The shoe’s going to be on the other foot someday,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a good precedent to set.”
Still, not all Republicans are breaking ranks. Senate Majority Leader John Thune defended the administration’s tough approach, arguing that Democrats triggered the crisis by refusing to pass a “clean” short-term funding bill.
“In a shutdown, any administration is going to have their own priorities,” Thune said. “The decision to shut down the government has been made on pure politics.”
Senate Democrats, led by New York’s Chuck Schumer, blasted the move as “petty revenge politics.” Schumer said Trump’s actions would “screw over hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey commuters” and “kill good-paying jobs.”
The pushback comes days after millions of Americans took to the streets to express their outrage over Trump’s agenda, 10 months after he took office for his second term.
On Saturday, (Oct. 18), more than 2,700 “No Kings” rallies were held across the country in protest of Trump’s “authoritarian” agenda. A reported 5 million people took to the streets to rally against “dictator” Trump, although some reports suggest as many as 7 million Americans protested.
Republican lawmakers labeled protesters as “communists” and “Marxists.”
“I encourage you to watch — we call it the Hate America rally — that will happen Saturday,” House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said, according to The Associated Press. “Let’s see who shows up for that,” Johnson said, noting that demonstrators were “antifa types,” and people who “hate capitalism.” Johnson also dismissed them as “Marxists in full display.”
