WA Sen. Patty Murray blasts Trump over plan to ‘blatantly rob blue states’
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray on Friday blasted the Trump administration over its plan to rip hundreds of millions of dollars away from construction-project funding in blue states.
Among the major projects that President Donald Trump is defunding: the Howard Hanson Dam here in Washington, the Democratic senator said in a virtual press conference alongside representatives from Tacoma Public Utilities and the Covington Water District.
The news event followed the release of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ plans to strip roughly $437 million from blue states’ construction funding while moving about $258 million more toward that purpose in red states, Murray’s office noted in a news release.
“Yesterday, the Trump administration released a plan to blatantly rob blue states and completely politicize federal funding for crucial projects,” said Murray, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“We are talking historically blatant thuggery from the White House here.”
The White House did not immediately return McClatchy’s request for comment.
In Washington, the plans also mean the Howard Hanson Dam facility will lose out this year on $500 million in funding that Murray secured for construction of a fish-passage facility, according to the release.
The project would help address issues of water supply, flood risks and safeguarding salmon, Murray said. Such funding had generated bipartisan support, she said, and her chamber’s committee had “cleared a bill for this unanimously.” The project also had been fully funded in the Republican-drafted House appropriations bill.
Now that money has evaporated, she said, adding that there was no explanation given: “But the motivation here is obvious, and it is alarming.”
Murray’s counterpart, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, also decried the Trump’s administration’s choice to withhold the $500 million in planned federal funding for the dam’s fish-passage construction. In a Friday news release she called the construction key to reopening “at least 60 miles of prime salmon and steelhead habitat, nearly doubling Green River spawning grounds for endangered salmon and steelhead.”
“Withholding funding for this project is a stab in the back to tribal, commercial, and recreational fishing families,” Cantwell continued. “It also amounts to an abandonment of our commitment to tribal treaty rights, and ignores federal law intended to protect salmon.”
Aside from Washington, funding was zeroed out for water infrastructure in Hawaii and California, according to E&E News by Politico. Because of the continuing resolution that the U.S. Congress approved in March, Trump enjoys more authority over spending decisions than typically would be allowed.
Trump’s partisan vision is replacing Congress’ bipartisan understanding of which projects require funding, Murray said, and it’s setting a worrying precedent.
“The balance of states Trump wants to give more funding — and the states he wants to cut off — is completely lopsided: about two-thirds for red states, one-third for blue states,” Murray said. “Now for comparison, the budget request, our bipartisan Senate bill, and yes, even House Republicans’ bill, split the funding between red and blue states about 50-50.”
Since Trump’s return to the presidency in January, Washington state leaders have been bracing for more federal cuts. Gov. Bob Ferguson urged lawmakers during the recently wrapped 2025 session to prepare for “significant threats to our federal funding.”
Trump has said he wants to stop federal dollars from going to states with sanctuary cities, which would include Washington.
Tensions have escalated between Washington state and the Trump administration in recent weeks. The feds have launched investigations into the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and its new law requiring clergy members to be mandatory reporters of abuse and neglect, similar to teachers.
Murray issued a word of warning: “It may not be your state today, but what happens when your governor disagrees with the president?”
“We have to push back now — today — which is exactly what I’m doing,” she said. “I will fight tooth and nail to prevent this completely partisan vision from becoming a reality.”
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