President Donald Trump has embraced the federal shutdown as an “unprecedented opportunity” to slash spending and shrink government, but new rounds of targeted spending cuts from the White House aimed at Democratic states and priorities are raising concerns among Republicans that they may be at risk of ceding their political advantage.

Republicans in Congress believe they hold the upper hand in a four-day-old stalemate, as Democrats voted against measures to keep the government open because they want to attach additional policy measures. But the sweeping cuts to home-state projects — and the threat of mass federal firings — have some in the GOP worried the White House may be going too far and potentially give Democrats a way out of their tight spot.

“This is certainly the most moral high ground Republicans have had in a moment like this that I can recall, and I just don’t like squandering that political capital when you have that kind of high ground,” GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota told reporters this week.

As hopes faded on Friday (October 3, 2025) for a quick end to the shutdown — with Democrats holding firm in a key Senate vote — the White House signalled more layoffs and agency cuts could follow. Mr. Trump shared a video on Thursday (October 2, 2025) night portraying budget director Russ Vought as the Grim Reaper. The cuts are raising fresh questions about whether voters want a government that uses discretionary power to punish political opponents — and whether Republicans may face electoral consequences for the White House’s actions.

“There’s the political ramifications that could cause backlash,” Mr. Cramer said in another interview. “It makes everything going forward more difficult for us.” Since the shutdown began, Mr. Trump has moved to cancel $7.6 billion in clean energy grants across 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. On Friday (October 3, 2025), the administration announced an additional $2 billion cut, this time to a major public transit project in Chicago. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is also reviewing funding to Portland, Oregon.

“He’s just literally took out the map and pointed to all the blue states,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, told The Associated Press.

Democrats have seized on the shutdown and cuts as evidence of Mr. Trump’s overreach. There could be near-term fallout, including in next month’s governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia. Democratic candidates in both states have linked their GOP opponents to Trump’s policies and criticised them for not standing up to his latest moves.

In New Jersey, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill blasted Republican Jack Ciattarelli over Mr. Trump’s move to block funding for a long-delayed rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey, saying it will hurt commuters and put thousands of good-paying union jobs at risk.

“What’s wrong with this guy?” Ms. Sherrill said on Friday (October 3, 2025).

In Virginia, Democrat Abigail Spanberger noted the state already has been hit hard by job cuts made by Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. She said Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears is “refusing to stand up for our workforce and our economy”. Ms. Earle-Sears said Democrats are to blame for the shutdown, and said Ms. Spanberger did nothing to encourage the state’s Democratic senators to stop it.

The administration’s targeting of blue states has already begun to ripple through states like California, where $1.2 billion in funding for the state’s hydrogen hub was scrapped. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said it threatens more than 2,00,000 jobs.

Though Ms. Harris won California handily in 2024, the state includes several competitive House districts that could decide control of the chamber in 2026. Similar districts exist in other states affected by the cuts, including New York and New Hampshire, which also has key gubernatorial and Senate races.

Democratic groups have moved quickly to tie local Republicans to the fallout. American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic group, has highlighted swing-district Republicans in states where cuts have occurred, accusing them of having “sat by and let it happen”. “The cruelty that they might unleash on everyday Americans using the pretence of a shutdown is only going to backfire against them,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an interview with The Associated Press and other outlets at the Capitol.

The cuts are also complicating Senate negotiations, prolonging a shutdown that could leave thousands of federal workers without pay and halt key programs. Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat whom Republicans have tried to sway, said “there’s no question” the cuts have damaged talks.

“If you’re trying to get people to come together and try to find common ground, that’s the absolute wrong way to do it,” said Mr. Peters.

Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, broke from Democrats earlier this week to support the GOP funding bill. He called the cuts “so utterly partisan as to be almost laughable”. “If they overreach, which is entirely possible, I think they’re going to be in trouble with Republicans as well,” said Mr. King.

Many Senate Republicans have not endorsed Mr. Vought’s approach directly, instead blaming Democrats for rejecting funding bills and opening the door to the White House’s more aggressive moves.

“It’s the reason why Republicans have continued to support a continuation,” said GOP Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota. “If you’ve noticed, Republicans have solidly supported this short-term continuing resolution because we do not want to see this.”

“It’s not like we promoted it,” said Mr. Rounds. “We’ve done everything we can right now to try to avoid it.”

Published – October 04, 2025 01:52 pm IST

President Joe Biden talks with volunteers at a campaign office in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Barack Obama once said if there were no Scranton, Pennsylvania, there would be no Joe Biden.

The sitting president, whose term ends in January, returned to his childhood hometown on Saturday for a final campaign stop in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, seeking to use his sway in a critical part of an important swing state to help her beat his onetime rival, Republican Donald Trump, in Tuesday’s election.

Scranton has a storied history for Biden, and if he were still at the top of the Democratic ticket, a stop here would likely be seen as a full-circle moment for his final campaign.

Also read: Balancing the posture, enthusing the base: Kamala Harris’s challenge in the last lap 

Instead it was Biden’s swan song of sorts for his No. 2, and a muted one at that.

The president rallied union workers, a constituency with whom he is popular, at a small hall in the town where he grew up before his family moved to Delaware, where he would launch his more than 50-year political career.

“I’m so proud to be back,” Biden said, diving into familiar remarks about his and Harris’ support for unions, his pride in having been the first president to walk a picket line, and their efforts to restore pensions.

“Don’t forget where you came from,” he said to applause, warning of the ramifications if Trump is elected and does away with the Affordable Care Act healthcare program, which was Obama’s signature achievement.

Biden used colorful language when describing what he would like to do to those who would turn back his legislative accomplishments with a reference to his younger days in Scranton.

“I’m serious. These are the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the ass,” he said.

Biden told the crowd he would not have picked Harris as vice president if she didn’t share his views about hard-working Americans.

“We made a lot of progress, and Kamala will build on that progress,” he said. “We need to elect Kamala as president.”

Biden, who stepped aside as the Democratic Party’s standard bearer in July following a disastrous debate performance against Trump, has not been a regular feature on the campaign trail for Harris since she ascended to the top of the ticket.

They held a handful of early events, both official and campaign-related, as she energized demoralized Democrats in the summer. But Biden’s former campaign largely has left him in the shadows since, amid concerns about his age, penchant for gaffes, and low approval ratings with the American public.

The wisdom of that strategy was highlighted earlier this week when Biden’s call with a Latino group in which he referred to a Trump supporter or supporters as “garbage” partially overshadowed Harris’ well-received closing argument speech to tens of thousands of supporters in Washington. Biden later clarified his remarks, but the episode was an unwelcome one for Harris and her team in the final stretch of the race.

It was not enough, however, for them to ask Biden to eschew his stop in Pennsylvania, where he spoke at a union get-out-the-vote meeting with Carpenters Local 445, standing in front of a wall of signs that said “Harris for President” and “Thank you, Joe.”