{"id":32377,"date":"2025-10-04T00:02:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T00:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=32377"},"modified":"2025-10-04T00:02:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T00:02:26","slug":"ernst-demands-2t-in-federal-cuts-urges-trump-team-to-make-dc-squeal-amid-shutdown-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/?p=32377","title":{"rendered":"Ernst demands $2T in federal cuts, urges Trump team to \u2018make DC squeal\u2019 amid shutdown fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Senate Republican has a list of more than a \u2018trillion dollars worth of ideas ripe for a trim\u2019 as the federal government shutdown continues.\u00a0<br \/>\nOffice of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought has so far announced his plans to withhold nearly $30 billion in federal funding to blue states and cities, while Senate Democrats continue to block Republicans\u2019 efforts to reopen the government.<br \/>\nAnd Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has some ideas for even deeper cuts. In a letter to Vought, first obtained by Fox News Digital, Ernst laid out a plan that could result in over $2 trillion in cuts to federal spending.<\/p>\n<p>Her letter comes as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most Senate Democrats have remained steadfast in their opposition to the GOP\u2019s short-term funding extension.<br \/>\n\u2018Schumer\u2019s Shutdown has provided a golden opportunity to slash waste, fraud and abuse in Washington,\u2019 Ernst said in a statement to Fox News Digital. \u2018There is no one more fitting to lead the charge than Russ Vought.\u2019<br \/>\n\u2018I have compiled a comprehensive list of more than $2 trillion of nonessential government expenditures that should be put on the chopping block to put taxpayers first, make Washington squeal and deliver a more efficient government,\u2019 she continued.<\/p>\n<p>Ernst, who chairs the Senate DOGE Caucus, which borrowed its moniker from tech billionaire Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wants to target tens of billions in expired and unexpired COVID-19 pandemic funding, consolidate unused federal office space and prevent taxpayers from \u2018subsidizing\u2019 the roughly $400 million per day in backpay owed to furloughed nonessential federal workers.<br \/>\nShe also wants to go after nearly $1.6 trillion in unspent funding \u2018stashed away in secret slush funds,\u2019 clawback billions in the Biden-era electric vehicle charging station program, railroad projects in blue states, end research into \u2018silly science projects\u2019 like shrimp on treadmills, and streamline \u2018duplication and unnecessary overlap within\u2019 the Department of War, among many others.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This is by no means an exhaustive list, and I will be providing many more recommendations soon,\u2019 Ernst wrote in the letter. \u2018My team and I stand ready to help you make some prime cuts during this Schumer Shutdown.\u2019<br \/>\nMeanwhile, there appeared to be no off-ramp in sight to end the now three-day government shutdown.<br \/>\nSenate Democrats are also unfazed by Vought and President Donald Trump\u2019s desire to target their states and cities with cuts, with many arguing that the administration was already carrying out those tactics.<br \/>\nStill, Senate Republicans hope that enough Democrats peel off and vote to reopen the government. So far, three members of the Democratic caucus have done so \u2014 Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Angus King, I-Maine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This post appeared first on FOX NEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/godzillanewz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/joni-ernst-shutdown-1-800x450.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\">A Senate Republican has a list of more than a \u2018trillion dollars worth of ideas&#8230;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32378,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[230,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32377"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investmentbankingrules.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}