Trump administration orders review of federal funding in more than a dozen Democratic states
By Hannah Rabinowitz, Phil Mattingly, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration has ordered a review of federal funding sent to more than a dozen Democratic-led states, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The sweeping scale of the review is outlined in a budget data request that was sent Tuesday to all federal departments and agencies except for the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Office of Management and Budget memo, which was reviewed by CNN, requests detailed spending data as part of a review to “facilitate efforts to reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds.”
The request signals a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive strategy to target federal funding in blue states – an unprecedented policy approach triggered during last year’s government shutdown that has rapidly accelerated in the wake of sweeping fraud allegations in Minnesota.
OMB Director Russel Vought has run point on the effort after spending President Donald Trump’s past year in office re-engineering tools used by the agency, known as the federal government’s “nerve center,” to exert new authority and power over the federal spending process.
The memo directs agencies to include in their spending reports all grants, loans, contracts, subcontracts and “other monetary awards” provided to 13 states and Washington, DC. All of the states voted for Democratic nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election and 12 of the 13 states have Democratic governors. A fourteenth Democratic-led state has since been included in the review, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The request directs agencies to include funding data on the states as well as their localities, institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations operating or performing award activities there. The administration’s plan to review the funding was first reported by RealClearPolitics.
The review is an expansion of an ongoing effort to build a full accounting of government spending in those states and will give the Trump administration options for how to address what they see as waste or abuse, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
That effort also includes options to counter blue-state policies that go against the administration’s priorities, most notably on funding related to so-called “sanctuary cities,” the people said.
It also comes as Trump officials focus on the Minnesota welfare fraud scandal, and as the Justice Department works to create a new division of prosecutors and investigators focused on national fraud enforcement. CNN has reported that the White House recently pushed the FBI to investigate political campaigns in Minnesota over whether they illegally benefited from the fraud.
Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to visit the state later today.
Federal agencies have until Monday to provide data on California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state and Washington, DC, the budget data request shows.
Virginia wasn’t listed in the original memo, but has since been included in the review, according to a person familiar with the matter.
They are being asked to hand over data on all grants, loans, cooperative agreements, contracts and other financial awards including those made to colleges and universities, the request states. Information should cover fiscal years 2025 and 2026, as well as projected spending for 2027, it says.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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