Trump administration freezes $2.1bn in funds for Chicago transit projects

The US government has put $2.1bn in funding for infrastructure projects in Chicago on hold, Russ Vought, the office of management and budget director, said on Friday, in another jab at a Democratic-led city during the federal government shutdown, presented as a move against diversity efforts.

Vought said the money for major projects on Chicago’s subway mass transit system – including extensions of the Red Line route and modernizations “have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting”.

On Wednesday, Vought said the Trump administration had frozen $18bn for major transit projects in New York, too, including a rail tunnel under the Hudson River that flows between New York from New Jersey, and an extension of the Second Avenue subway underground rail system, citing the same justification.

The outgoing administration of former president Joe Biden finalized a nearly $2bn award of federal funds in its final days to help extend the Red Line 5.5 miles to connect Chicago far South Side to the main subway rail system, known locally as the “L”, for elevated, as a lot of the lines run overground and above the streets in the downtown area.

Vought cited a new rule from the US transportation department that took effect on Wednesday to review whether any small-business contractors are engaged in what the White House would regard as improper diversity initiatives. This is one of a series of efforts intended to pressure Democratic lawmakers in the US Congress over the partial government shutdown that began just after midnight on Wednesday.

Any substantive delays in federal funding over partisan political squabbles are almost certain to face swift legal challenges.

In New York, the $17.2bn Hudson River tunnel project, which received more than $11bn in federal grants, involves repairs to an existing tunnel, and the building of a new one for passenger railway operator Amtrak and commuter lines between New Jersey and Manhattan.

Any failure of the current Hudson tunnel, which was heavily damaged by 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, would hobble commuting in the metropolitan area that produces 10% of US economic output.

Reuters contributed reporting