An analysis of the Construction Project Congress that will receive continued funding under the 2025 Tax Work Plan of the United States Army Corps shows that the Trump administration has prioritized projects in states that remain Republican, away from the funds of the projects of states that were considered more “blue”, such as California, Hawaii and the State of Washington.
According to the Vice President of the Appropriating Committee, Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Trump’s administration changed $ 437 million in funding from the blue states in relation to the presidential budget application for the fiscal year, while he directed $ 258 million to the so-called red states, which represented 64-33% of red division. This is a breakdown of the traditional protocol, Murray said in a May 22 press informative session, where flood protection infrastructure projects in all states -approaching political trends -in the bills of federal expenses have passed with bipartisan support.
Congress’s appropriates usually work, through a long and often laborious process, that projects receive funding each year on annual expense bills. But the continuous resolution supported by Republican sent to the White House in March reduced the financing of the body of engineers by $ 1.4 billion and gave the president a wide latitude on where to make the cuts.
A furious Murray told journalists: “The body of the body of the body of the army of President Trump completely treads all the careful and meticulous negotiations we made in Congress to achieve a bipartisan understanding about what projects need funding and replaces him with his own partisan view.” She added: “Never again.”
Projects that had a financing or zero output include a water storage and fish passage project at Hanson’s Dam in King County, Washington, which was scheduled to receive $ 500 million in 2025; And at least four major risk reduction projects in California, which included reinforcing 42 miles of levers around the Natomas basin and the San Joaquin River Basin project of $ 2.03 million.
Work on the limbo
In October 2024, the Seattle District Engineer District granted a dollar 657 million water and fish passage project to the joint Flatiron company and the Aecon Canadian firm. According to a spokesman for the Seattle District, the project continues within the completely funded design phase of the project. “The award of the construction option by virtue of this contract depends on the receipt of additional funds,” he said. The body currently reviews the design, which is 80%.
In a May 16 call with journalists, Heather Pennington, Tacoma Published by Superintendent Water, said that his agency was in discussion with the Corps of Engineers on the current contract. “I know there is hopes to continue working in the short term, but what is not currently funded and now it will not be financed is unclear. We are very concerned about what can be completed and what the pause and impact will be if we do not achieve additional funding.”
Thomas Keown, CEO of Covington Water, who said that the decision to get the funding of the dam “is giving a loss of a project perfectly prepared for the shovel that is likely to be a ball for those who know how long.”
On May 21, the Deputy Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Robyn Colosimo, denied that the changes in funding were politically motivated. Noting the important cuts in the continuous resolution of the body’s projects, the administration’s highest officials “made harsh decisions and had the discretion to make it,” Colosimo said in an audience in front of a subcommittee of the Chamber’s appropriations. “I think this reflects the administration’s priorities,” he added, adding: “I think they had to make commitments that were not private.”
