CNN
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The Trump administration significantly cut funding for flood prevention projects in blue states across the country while creating new water construction opportunities in red states, undoing a Biden-era budget proposal that would have allocated money more evenly, according to a data analysis prepared by Democratic staffers.
California and the state of Washington lost the most funds, with the administration cutting water construction budget for those states by a combined $606 million, according to the analysis, which was shared with CNN. Texas, meanwhile, gained $206 million.
Democrats decried the moves, saying the administration was slashing essential projects in the name of political retribution. Collectively, states with Democratic senators lost over $436 million in funding compared to what they would have received under the last proposed budget of President Joe Biden’s administration, the data analysis shows. Republican-led states gained more than $257 million, the analysis shows.
“President Trump is blatantly playing politics with critical Army Corps construction investments and punishing the American people for the way their states have voted,” House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro and fellow Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur said in a joint statement to CNN.
The Trump administration said money was allocated “based on need and urgency,” and the cuts did not universally hit Democrat-controlled states. Iowa and Louisiana, which both have Republican governors and US senators, for example, both saw their overall funding reduced.
“The FY25 Civil Works plan will generate billions of dollars in economic activity by building American energy dominance and shipping capacity while investing in important conservation projects,” an Office of Management and Budget spokesperson told CNN. “The available funds were allocated by the administration based on need and urgency, in accordance with the guidelines set by Congress.”
Representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers, which implement the projects, are set to testify in front of the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. In a statement to CNN, an Army Corps spokesperson said the appropriations bill “allowed the administration to allocate all funds to Civil Works projects, programs and activities in accordance with its priorities.”
Typically, Congress takes a presidential budget request and sets funding levels for water construction projects through full-year appropriations bills on a bipartisan basis. But because Congress passed a short-term government funding bill without clear directives for these projects in March, the Trump administration has full discretion to determine how the funding should be allocated.
Biden had proposed relatively even funding levels for water construction projects across red and blue states in his budget request last year, with blue states getting about 53% of the funds available for construction projects and red states getting 47%. Both the House and Senate passed bills in 2024 that also would have provided relatively even funding for 2025. But the Trump administration’s plan allocated just 33% of funds to blue states, and 64% to red.
A source familiar with the budget said priorities often shift with a change of administration, but the change in spending on these projects was “unique” for the “magnitude” of how the funding was reallocated.
“That’s always been done on the edges; this is a wholesale dismissal of the 2025 budget,” the person said. “It looks like a war on the West Coast primarily. They definitely swiped away from blue states to fund red states.”
Four flood prevention projects in California, which were set to gain a combined $126.4 million under the Biden budget proposal, are getting nothing under the Trump administration’s plan. One of the projects to lose funding, Sacramento’s Natomas Basin is “one of the most at-risk areas in the nation for catastrophic flooding,” according to the Army Corps of Engineers website.
The West Sacramento levee project, which is not getting a proposed $43 million, bisects 48,000 residents and provides vital infrastructure to the US Postal Service, the California Department of Water Resources flood fight facility, and the Port of West Sacramento, the Army Corps of Engineers says.
The California flood control projects are key given the deluge the state has gotten from so-called atmospheric rivers, essentially, rivers in the sky that can deluge cities and towns in water. One of the California communities that was set to receive the Army Corps funding flooded during atmospheric rivers in 2023, a year where tens of trillions of gallons of water fell on the state, according to NOAA.
“Natural disasters like floods don’t discriminate – they can and do hit red and blue states alike,” Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff said in a statement to CNN. “The Trump administration is politicizing the Army Corps and its critical mission, and it needs to stop playing games with people’s lives.”
A $500 million dam project that provides flood control and water conservation in Washington also will get nothing under the Trump plan, and other state projects were given significantly less resources. The dam has flooded more than 30 times over the past 70 years causing serious damage to lands and buildings, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.
“We are witnessing a historic and serious, politically motivated abuse of our taxpayer dollars by President Trump,” said Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, adding, “this is some corrupt B-S from the President.”
Texas got the biggest investment, with over $206 million awarded for two large waterway projects that were not part of the 2024 budget request. One will deepen the Sabine-Neches Waterway, which is crucial to military and energy transport. And the funding for the Houston Ship Channel will provide dredging and maintenance.
The other Republican-led states to gain tens of millions of new waterway construction funding include Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee. A new $16.5 million in funding to address storm damage in Democratic-run New Jersey originates in GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s district.
Hill Republicans defended allocations of money to their states and districts.
“Good for Republican states,” GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, told CNN. “There is your incentive to be a Republican state.”
“Washington has picked winners and losers for a long time. It’s not going to stop picking winners and losers. Better to be on the winning side than on the losing side” Gonzales added.
When asked if he thought partisan politics overshadowed the funding breakdown, Van Drew, who worked with the administration to get the funding approved, told CNN. “Not that I know of.”
“I will say this, even when the Democrats were in control and I was here, I did very well in my district because the need for these projects are so great,” Van Drew said.
GOP Rep. Randy Weber, whose coastal Texas district is home to several key ports, said the construction awarded to his state was based on the outsized need to maintain safe shipping practices.
“We need the channel dug out,” Weber explained. “We’re able to do more commerce and more trade. So, for us, it’s a big deal.”
GOP Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio, who says he has had success getting various dredging projects funded, told CNN lawmakers must make the case to convince the administration to fund these types of projects.
“You got to work on them,” Joyce said about the way to advocate with the administration. “It’s like a rebound, right? That’s where the sharp elbows get in there and make sure you get the rebound.”
