Hochul: 'America has not been made great again'

And can campaign funds be spent on security for candidates and incumbents?

Good afternoon — It’s Wednesday and International Music Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• Democrats and Republicans from New York spent the day blaming each other for the shutdown of the federal government.

• The Trump administration took it a step further by stripping $18 billion from two major infrastructure projects because of “DEI.”

• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it cut $187 million from New York to combat “fraud, waste and abuse.”

• Can state campaign funds in New York be used to provide candidates and incumbents with security? Yes and no.

• Two lawmakers say $500 million could be raised each year for the state through an excise tax on energy used for cryptocurrency mining.

Names in today’s CapCon: Donald J. Trump, Kathy Hochul, Letitia James, Kristi Noem, Russ Vought, Sean Duffy, Nicole Malliotakis, Nick Langworthy, Elise Stefanik, Alex Bores, Amy Paulin, Liz Krueger, Anna Kelles

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Hochul and Democrats on Wednesday (New York Governor’s Office)

💵 Federal government shutdown snowballs in New York

Well, the federal government has partially shut down. Democrats in Congress played a game of chicken with President Donald J. Trump and their Republican counterparts. Nobody won.

That means any services or programs considered nonessential by federal agencies no longer have funding to operate. Those employees are furloughed until Congress approves new spending.

Gov. Kathy Hochul rallied with Democrats in New York City Wednesday in support of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both Brooklyn Democrats who blocked an extension of current spending.

“I’m sad to say this but America has not been made great again,” Hochul said, invoking Trump’s inaugural campaign slogan.

It’s an important moment for Schumer. He voted with other Democrats in the U.S. Senate in March to avert a government shutdown despite calls from Jeffries and others within his party to stand his ground.

His favorability rating dropped the following month to 39% — the lowest recorded for him by the Siena Research Institute in two decades.

The rally was attended by some of the state’s most senior Democrats, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

“This shutdown is just another example of chaos and confusion and pain for New Yorkers,” James said.

She arrived fresh off a win in federal court, where New York and 11 other states successfully convinced a judge to pause a series of cuts to counterterrorism and public safety funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Hochul had written a letter to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem late Monday, asking her agency to explain the cuts to New York, which total $187 million.

I had reached out to the agency Tuesday with the same question and heard back Wednesday morning. It said in an unattributed statement that the cuts were targeted at “fraud, waste and abuse.”

“New York City has long been the largest recipient of Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) funding, receiving roughly $3.6 billion since the program’s inception, which is about 30% of all funds awarded,” the statement said.

“At the same time, there are currently $1.6 billion in unspent UASI funds nationwide, including substantial balances in New York,” it continued.

“Given this, FEMA is prioritizing the responsible use of existing resources and working with jurisdictions to unlock those funds and explore alternative sources like the State Homeland Security Grant Program. Our goal is to ensure communities remain secure while making the system more effective and accountable, moving away from the fraud, waste and abuse of the past,” the agency added.

But then New York was informed of a much, much bigger pot of funding the Trump administration is now planning to withhold: $18 billion for two major infrastructure projects.