White House budget director Russell Vought said Wednesday that the Trump administration was putting on hold billions of dollars of funding for infrastructure projects in New York City, hours after the federal government shut down.
Vought wrote on X that he would be pausing $18 billion in funding for infrastructure projects to “ensure” that the money was not “flowing based on “unconstitutional DEI principles.”
“Roughly $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles,” Vought wrote.
“Specifically, the Hudson Tunnel Project and the Second Ave Subway,” he added in a second post.
The announcement, coming on the first day of the federal government shutdown, would dramatically affect major projects for the home state and city of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
A person familiar with the situation told NBC News that Department of Transportation employees responsible for funding the project have been furloughed due to the shutdown.
The person added the Trump administration “has concerns that the contracts awarded are inconsistent with civil rights laws and the U.S. Constitution because they were given based on racists DEI.”
“Thus, a review of contracts awarded under the Biden administration is required,” the person continued. The person added that the “review is also paused because of the Schumer shutdown.”
Hours before the shutdown on Tuesday, Trump had threatened that he could “get rid of a lot of things” that would prominently affect Democrats.
“We’re doing well as a country, so the last thing we want to do is shut it down, but a lot of good can come down from shutdowns,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday afternoon. “We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things.”
Trump has also said he could fire “many” federal workers during a shutdown.
After years of delays and other problems, the $16.1 billion Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project received a major boost in June 2024 when the Biden administration agreed to provide an additional $6.9 billion in funding.
The massive project includes a new railway tunnel linking New Jersey and New York, that would go under the Hudson River.
The Second Avenue Subway has been a decades-long project that has faced years of delays. Its first phase opened in 2017 and runs north and south along 2nd Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan from 72nd Street and 86th Street and connects to a Lexington Avenue station.
Funding for a long awaited second phase that would extend the line from 96th Street to 125th Street, in East Harlem, was approved in August.
Cutting funding for major projects would a be new front in the ongoing clash between Democrats and Republicans in Washington. The federal government shut down at midnight on Wednesday after party leaders on both sides failed to reach a funding deal.
Democrats had demanded measures to extend health care funding — including Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire — while GOP leaders offered a proposal that would keep the government open at current spending levels until Nov. 21.
Top Democrats from New York and New Jersey hit back against Vought and Trump on Wednesday.
“Again with this guy (and his baseless threats). Russ, you are the poster child for privilege and mediocrity,” Jeffries wrote on X. “Get lost.”
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the New Jersey Democratic nominee for governor in next month’s election, immediately tied the news to her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli.
Ciattarelli, she wrote on X, “said there’s not a single issue where he disagrees with Trump, and he promised to never take them to court.”
“As governor, I will fight this tooth-and-nail and sue the Trump administration to finish this critical, job-creating infrastructure project to reduce congestion and improve quality of life in New Jersey,” Sherrill wrote.
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said in a statement that, “Halting the Hudson Tunnel Project over Trump’s fabricated culture war will sabotage thousands of NJ commuters.”
“This is about whether trains run safely and on time, whether workers get to their jobs, whether businesses can function, and whether the American economy keeps moving,” Pallone added. “Any partisan move to stop this project is an attack on New Jersey residents and the economic engine of our region.”
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