Politics

Trump Pauses $2.1B for Chicago’s Red Line Extension and Other Infrastructure Projects, Citing ‘Race-Based Contracting’

WASHINGTON — 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.

When awarding contracts for the work to be performed with federal funds, the CTA followed long-established rules requiring them to meet goals to give contracts to Black-, Latino- and female-owned companies and small firms that qualify as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise,

The federal government now says those rules are discriminatory.

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.

“Illinois, like New York, is well known to promote race- and sex-based contracting and other racial preferences as a public policy,” according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Transportation. “These critical reviews are intended to ensure no additional federal dollars go towards discriminatory, illegal and wasteful contracting practices. The American people don’t care what race or gender construction workers, pipefitters, or electricians are. They just want these massive projects finally built quickly and efficiently.”

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.

“Right when we are finally on the brink of moving forward, Trump just cut off the funding. From public safety to public education to public transit, this president is cutting the services that working people rely upon,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement. “We are calling for these cuts to be immediately reversed, and we will use every tool at our disposal to restore this funding.”

Johnson told reporters at an unrelated news conference that the city would consider suing the federal government to restore the funding and called Trump “deranged.”

“We’re going to do everything in our power to ensure that construction continues,” Johnson said. “The South Side has fought for this for 50 years, and we have finally delivered it, and after 50 years of struggle to make sure that the South Side is prioritized, this president is now going to try to disrupt that? Not under my watch.”

Before former President Joe Biden left office, the Federal Transit Administration signed a “full funding agreement.”

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 on the city’s North Side.

Efforts by the Trump administration to yank $3.5 billion in federal grants to Chicago because it bans police officers from helping enforce federal immigration laws have been blocked by two federal judges.

In May, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a probe into whether Johnson improperly hired city employees because they are Black.

Johnson, a Democrat, has fiercely defended his commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, even as Trump has declared those efforts illegal.

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 senator from New York 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.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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