--- title: Government Budget Cuts Hitting 'Red' States Hardest: Analysis description: Recent governmental budget cuts have not been distributed evenly and spending slashes hit pro-Republican states the hardest. canonical: https://time.com/3685540/republicans-democrats-obama-budget-spending/ author: Kevin McSpadden article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-28T09:36:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:56:04.024Z article:section: Politics og:title: Budget Cuts May Be Hitting 'Red' States Hardest og:description: Analysis hints at politicalization of discretionary spending. og:url: https://time.com/3685540/republicans-democrats-obama-budget-spending/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac1739a7789efd25/69877c4ce20a87462ba84c50/rtr3fgnk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: A red traffic light stands in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Budget Cuts May Be Hitting 'Red' States Hardest twitter:description: Analysis hints at politicalization of discretionary spending. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac1739a7789efd25/69877c4ce20a87462ba84c50/rtr3fgnk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Government Budget Cuts Are Hitting 'Red' States Hardest, Say Analysts > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Jan 28, 2015 9:36 AM UTC  A red traffic light stands in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington September 30, 2013, approximately one hour before the U.S. federal government partially shut down after lawmakers failed to compromise on an emergency spending bill A red traffic light stands in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington September 30, 2013, approximately one hour before the U.S. federal government partially shut down after lawmakers failed to compromise on an emergency spending bill JAMES LAWLER DUGGAN —REUTERS by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Jan 28, 2015 9:36 AM UTC Recent governmental budget cuts have [not been distributed evenly](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-usa-politics-spending-idUSKBN0L10F120150128?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm%5Fsource=twitter) with slashed spending hitting pro-Republican states the hardest, according to new analysis by Reuters. Funding for a range of discretionary grant programs has fallen 40% in Republican states compared to a drop of only 25% in swing states or states that tend to support the Democrats, claims the news agency. “I would suggest these numbers would tell us there is politicization going on,” said John Hudak of the Brookings Institution, who helped Reuters analyze the federal spending. The money that the government allocates to discretionary spending goes to initiatives like the Head Start preschool education scheme and anti-drugs programs. [Read more on the study at Reuters](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/28/us-usa-politics-spending-idUSKBN0L10F120150128?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm%5Fsource=twitter) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3685540/republicans-democrats-obama-budget-spending/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3685540/republicans-democrats-obama-budget-spending/"},"headline":"Government Budget Cuts Are Hitting 'Red' States Hardest, Say Analysts","datePublished":"2015-01-28T09:36:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:56:04.024Z","description":"Experts suggest the discrepancy may point to the politicalization of public spending","url":"https://time.com/3685540/republicans-democrats-obama-budget-spending/","keywords":["Budget","democrats","republicans","politics","Obama","Government","Spending","President Obama","grants"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac1739a7789efd25/69877c4ce20a87462ba84c50/rtr3fgnk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kevin McSpadden","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltac1739a7789efd25/69877c4ce20a87462ba84c50/rtr3fgnk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A red traffic light stands in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington","caption":"A red traffic light stands in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington","creditText":"JAMES LAWLER DUGGAN —REUTERS","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/budget/","name":"Budget"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3685540/republicans-democrats-obama-budget-spending/","name":"Government Budget Cuts Are Hitting 'Red' States Hardest, Say Analysts"}}]}] ```