Trump Freezes Billions for Chicago Infrastructure Projects Amid Shutdown

Elected leaders in Illinois are calling foul after President Donald Trump froze funding for multiple infrastructure projects in Chicago.

As the Chicago Sun-Times reported, the Trump administration announced on Friday that it is withholding payments for $2.1 billion worth of infrastructure projects in the Windy City, including an extension for Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line.

White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought justified the freezes in a post on social media by saying he wanted to "ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting."

Democratic politicians in Illinois, however, accused the White House of abusing its powers to punish political enemies amid the current shutdown of the federal government.

"At a time when federal agents are sowing chaos in Chicago, the Trump administration is holding bipartisan funding hostage," said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in a social media post. "It’s attempting to score political points but is instead hurting our economy and the hardworking people who rely on public transit to get to work or school."

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also denounced Trump's actions and question why he was freezing money for a major American city while green-lighting a bailout of Argentina, which is currently being led by President Javier Milei, a right-wing Trump ally.

"Argentina gets $20 billion and the South Side gets nothing," he wrote on X. "What happened to America First?"

According to the Sun-Times, Johnson also vowed to fight the administration's freeze on the Red Line funding, which he said had been a community priority for decades.

"This is not just an egregious act," he said. "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."

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) warned that the Trump administration might try to permanently block funding for Chicago, which he suggested could become a blueprint for other administration actions against cities whose elected leaders oppose the president.

"I believe there’s a very real chance that the Red Line funding doesn’t go through during the Trump administration,” Quigley told the Sun-Times. "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."

The Trump administration's actions in Chicago mirror the ones it took in New York City, where Vought announced earlier this week that he was freezing $18 billion worth of spending "to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional [diversity, equity, and inclusion] principles."