WASHINGTON — The Trump administration introduced Friday that it’s placing $2.1 billion in funding for Chicago infrastructure initiatives on maintain, the most recent transfer to focus on Democratic-run cities throughout the federal government shutdown.
The director of the Workplace of Administration and Funds, Russell Vought, mentioned in a put up on X that the funding is for “particularly the Purple Line Extension and the Purple and Purple Modernization Venture.” He mentioned it has been “placed on maintain to make sure funding just isn’t flowing through race-based contracting.”
The Division of Transportation mentioned the choice to pause the funding comes after it issued an interim ultimate rule this week barring “race- and sex-based contracting necessities from federal grants.” It mentioned it despatched letters on Friday to the Chicago Transit Authority to inform officers that the initiatives “are beneath administrative evaluation to find out whether or not any unconstitutional practices are occurring.”
“The American individuals don’t care what race or gender building employees, pipefitters, or electricians are. They only need these large initiatives lastly constructed shortly and effectively,” the division mentioned in its announcement.
It added that the federal government shutdown “has negatively affected the Division’s staffing assets for finishing up this essential evaluation.”
“We urge Democrats in Congress to cease holding the federal authorities’s funds hostage so USDOT can get again to the essential work of the American individuals,” the division’s launch mentioned.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s workplace did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
President Donald Trump and administration officers warned that they deliberate to focus on packages favored by Democrats throughout the federal government shutdown. The White Home didn’t reply to a request for touch upon what cities the administration is perhaps planning to focus on subsequent, referring NBC Information to the Workplace of Administration and Funds for additional data.
The halt in Chicago rail venture cash comes after Vought introduced on Wednesday, the primary day of the federal government shutdown, that the administration was placing $18 billion for 2 infrastructure initiatives in New York Metropolis on maintain. They embody a brand new commuter rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River and an growth of the Second Avenue subway line.
Freezing cash for the initiatives stands to impression constituents of Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer and Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, who’re main the Democratic opposition in Congress to the Republican short-term authorities funding payments.
Individually, the Division of Vitality introduced Thursday that it was terminating $7.56 billion in monetary awards for 223 energy-related initiatives. Democrats on the Home Appropriations Committee mentioned that the funding focused 16 Democratic-led states, together with 108 congressional districts represented by Democrats and 28 represented by Republicans.
Jay Blackman contributed.
