US President Donald Trump. Photo: REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” President Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social. 

Vought, Trump’s now budget chief, wrote a section of the blueprint Project 2025 ahead of last year's election. 

Just after midnight on Wednesday, the US government entered a shutdown after Congress failed to reach a funding deal for the new fiscal year. Around 750,000 federal employees face furloughs and essential personnel work is unpaid.