Trump pauses $2.1B for Chicago infrastructure projects, leveraging shutdown to pressure Democrats

FILE – A Chicago Transit Authority train pulls into the new Damen Ave. station just two blocks from the United Center, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

(AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration will withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, the White House budget director said Friday, expanding funding fights that have targeted Democratic areas during the government shutdown.

The pause affects a long-awaited plan to extend the city’s Red Line train. The money was “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting,” budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media.

Vought made a similar announcement earlier this week involving New York, where he said $18 billion for infrastructure would be paused, including funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.

Trump, a Republican, has embraced Vought’s tactics. On Thursday night, he posted a video depicting him as the reaper, wearing a hood and holding a scythe.

Losing the money would be a significant setback for Chicago’s transportation plans. The Red Line extension is slated to add four train stops on the city’s South Side, improving access for disadvantaged communities.

In addition, a broader modernization project for the Red and Purple lines, which Vought said was also being targeted, is intended to upgrade stations and remove a bottleneck where different lines intersect.

In New York’s case, Trump’s Transportation Department said it had been reviewing whether any “unconstitutional practices” were occurring in the two massive infrastructure projects but that the government shutdown, which began Wednesday, had forced it to furlough the staffers conducting the review.

The suspension of funds for the Hudson River tunnel project and a Second Avenue subway line extension is likely meant to target Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, whom the White House is blaming for the impasse. The New York senator said the funding freeze would harm commuters.

“Obstructing these projects is stupid and counterproductive because they create tens of thousands of great jobs and are essential for a strong regional and national economy,” Schumer said on X.