The White House on Friday said it is withholding $2.1 billion in funding for Chicago infrastructure projects, including the CTA's Red Line extension, as President Donald Trump escalates his fight with the city and follows through on his threat to punish Democrats over the government shutdown.
White House budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media that he was specifically targeting the Red Line South Side project as well as the Red and Purple Line modernization project, “to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”
Chicago Democrats railed against the decision, with Sen. Dick Durbin calling it an illegal freeze. Gov. JB Pritzker accused Trump of "holding bipartisan funding hostage" and hurting hardworking people. And Mayor Brandon Johnson said the president is "cutting the services that working people rely on."
"So why would this administration decide to target thousands of working families when it comes to their electric bills and when it comes to transportation? Because Donald Trump wants to punish states like Illinois and the people who live there because they didn't vote for him in the last election," Durbin said on the Senate floor Friday morning. "This is petty. It's unfair. It's wrong. These vindictive actions will cost Illinoisans jobs."
The U.S. Department of Transportation wrote on Friday that the projects are under review “to determine whether any unconstitutional practices are occurring.”
“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,” the department said in a statement.
Vought earlier this week also paused $18 billion in New York infrastructure projects, citing diversity, equity and inclusion practices that he said were unconstitutional.
The Transportation Department specifically blamed Democrats for the impasse and their push for “benefits for illegal immigrants,” a false claim. Democrats are pushing for an extension of tax credits that Americans use to buy insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchange, and also to reverse Medicaid cuts made earlier in Trump's budget.
Immigrants without legal status are not eligible for any federal health care programs, including Medicaid. The Associated Press has reported that spending on people who lack legal status — in emergency care settings — accounted for less than 1% of total Medicaid spending between fiscal years 2017 and 2023.
The Office of Management and Budget last week said agencies should consider a reduction in force for federal programs whose funding would lapse this week, is not otherwise funded and is “not consistent with the President’s priorities."
Acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen said she was "not going to comment on the current status of news today with regards to federal funds."
Bracing for a White House backlash
The CTA has been preparing for backlash from the Trump administration. In January, the CTA secured a legal obligation from the federal government to pay a promised nearly $2 billion for the Red Line extension to 130th Street.
At the time, then-CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. said the “unique legal document” signed with the Federal Transit Administration ensures the money cannot be clawed back by a new presidential administration.
“Historically, there’s never been a situation in which a full funding grant agreement has been reneged by the federal government,” Carter said then.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a North Side Democrat, was among those in the Illinois congressional delegation who worked to nail down a $2 billion “full funding” contract for the Red Line extension in hopes of making the project “Trump-proof” and speed funding to Chicago.
Quigley said Friday he believes the presidential “pause” is part of Trump’s “war on cities” that could very well kill the long-awaited project to extend mass transit to the only part of the city without it.
“They say it’s just a pause. But I believe there’s a very real chance that the Red Line funding doesn’t go through during the Trump administration,” Quigley said. “If they can get away with this, I believe they’re going to cut off every bit of federal funding they can to cities, and this is just the start.”
Normally, Quigley said a federal funding pause during a budget battle would be temporary. But those traditional rules of engagement don’t apply to Trump, he said.
"This is the retribution tour and part of the retribution is blue (Democratic) cities. This is the opening salvo," Quigley said.
Johnson and Pritzker, two people Trump ‘doesn’t like’
The Red Line extension is “more imperiled than it has ever been,” Quigley said, and not simply because the price tag for that project has skyrocketed.
“The mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois are two of the people that this president doesn’t like,” Quigley said.
Johnson on Friday said the CTA projects will benefit more than 175,000 daily riders and boost economic development in surrounding neighborhoods. He vowed to use “every single tool” at his disposal to ensure the Red Line extension project continues.
“The legal route — absolutely. Resistance in our streets in peacefully assembling and petitioning this government to do its part. Looking at legislation,” Johnson said. “This is not just an egregious act. He is working outside of the parameters of what our ordinances and our state law provides for — minority and women-owned participation… 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 gonna try to disrupt that? Not on my watch.”
The Transportation Department has been threatening to cut federal funding for Chicago's transportation projects since Trump took office in January.
Last month, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to pull funding from the CTA over safety concerns, sending a letter to Leerhsen asking for a plan to deter crime on the system.
One of Duffy's first acts as secretary in February was to direct his agency to prioritize funding for communities with higher birth and marriage rates, among other metrics, putting Illinois near the end of the list for funding priority.
Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) was 2 years old when then Mayor Richard J. Daley cut the ribbon on a 95th Street station and promised the extension needed to relieve Far South Side residents from what former Federal Transit Administration chief Nuria Fernandez called "mega-commutes" as long as 90 minutes one way.
Beale said he is “not concerned one iota” about the Trump administration’s decision.
“This is just a tactic that they’re trying to use as leverage in order to force the Democrats to do something and I’m not going to take the bait,” Beale said.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that the White House is withholding $18 billion from New York for infrastructure projects, not $1.8 billion.
