Trump pauses $2.1B for Chicago infrastructure projects, leveraging shutdown to pressure Democrats
The director of the White House budget, Russ Vought, said that the Trump administration will retain $ 2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, expanding funding fighting that targeted democratic areas when the government closed
Washington – Washington (AP) – Director of the Budget of the White House, Russ Vought, said that the Trump administration will retain $ 2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, widening funding fights that targeted democratic areas when the government closed.
The break affects a long -awaited plan to extend the city’s red line train. Vought wrote on social networks on Friday that money was “suspended to ensure that funding does not circulate via breed -based contracts”.
Vought made a similar announcement earlier this week involving New York, where he said that $ 18 billion for infrastructure would be interrupted, including financing a new rail tunnel under the Hudson river.
Losing money would be an important setback for Chicago transport plans. The extension of the red line should add four train stops on the south side of the city, improving access to disadvantaged communities.
In addition, a broader modernization project for red and purple lines, which, according to Vought, was also targeted, aims to modernize the stations and remove a bottleneck where different lines cross.
President Donald Trump adopted Vought’s tactics. Thursday evening, he posted a video representing him like Reaper, carrying a hood and holding a false.
In the case of New York, the Trump Transport Department said it had examined whether “unconstitutional practices” occurred in the two massive infrastructure projects but that the government’s closure, which began on Wednesday, had forced it to move the staff members.
The suspension of funds in New York is probably intended to target the Democratic chief of the Senate Chuck Schumer, which the White House blame for the dead end. The New York senator said that the financing freezing would harm shuttlers.
“Bugaling these projects is stupid and counterproductive because they create tens of thousands of major jobs and are essential for a solid regional and national economy,” said Schumer on X.
___
This story has been corrected to show $ 18 billion, not $ 18 million, was detained in New York.
