White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought said that the Trump Administration froze $2.1 billion in funding for infrastructure projects in Chicago, with most of the money being placed on hold designated for an extension of the city’s Red Line and Red and Purple Modernization Project. In a press release on the announcement, the Trump Transportation Department said that the decision to pause the funding comes after it issued an interim final rule this morning on the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program barring “race- and sex-based contracting requirements from federal grants.”
The Department said that it sent letters to the Chicago Transit Authority to notify officials that the projects “are under administrative review to determine whether any unconstitutional practices are occurring.” The statement also said that the government shutdown “has negatively affected the Department’s staffing resources for carrying out this important analysis” and sought to blame Democrats, saying “we urge Democrats in Congress to stop holding the federal government’s budget hostage so USDOT can get back to the important work of the American people. Benefits for illegal immigrants are not worth potential impacts to important investments in our nation’s transportation infrastructure.”