The White House is freezing about $18 billion in funding for two major Big Apple transportation projects amid the government shutdown and to make sure the federal cash isn’t going toward “unconstitutional” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, officials announced Wednesday.
“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,” White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought posted on X, just hours after the federal government went into a partial shutdown.
Vought added that the Hudson Tunnel project and Second Avenue subway extension were the two projects affected.
Federal Transit Authority chief and former New York Congressman Mark Molinaro penned near-identical letters to MTA chairman Janno Lieber and Gateway Development Commission CEO Tom Prendergast on Sept. 30, alerting them that federal funding for both the Second Avenue Subway expansion and Hudson River tunnel project would be delayed pending a review for discriminatory practices.
The letters followed the publication of an interim final rule (IFR) banning race- and sex-based programs being funded by the US Department of Transportation from operating in a discriminatory fashion.
But a source familiar with the decision told The Post that funding will be stopped for both projects “due to [Sen. Chuck] Schumer’s shutdown” and that DOT employees responsible for funding the projects and reimbursing contractors have now been furloughed.
“This administration has concerns that the contracts awarded are inconsistent with civil rights laws and the constitution because they were given based on racist DEI,” the source said. “Thus, a review of contracts awarded under Biden is required. However, the review is also paused because of the Schumer shutdown.”
A DOT spokesperson reiterated Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s position that “subsidizing infrastructure contracts with taxpayer dollars based on discriminatory principles is unconstitutional, counter to civil rights laws, and a waste of taxpayer resources.”
The spokesperson added that DOT’s review of New York’s “unconstitutional practices” will require additional time, and that absent a budget, the department has furloughed the civil rights staff responsible for conducting the review.
“This is another unfortunate casualty of radical Democrats’ reckless decision to hold the federal government hostage to give illegal immigrants benefits.”
At a press conference Wednesday blaming Republicans for the government shutdown, Gov. Kathy Hochul quickly pivoted to the announcement the feds would be withholding cash from the infrastructure projects.
“They’re trying to make culture wars the reason why,” she told reporters from the Battery. “We’re ready to build. It’s underway, and now we realize that they decide to put their own interpretation of proper culture ahead of our needs, the needs of the nation. You can’t make this up, folks, it just keeps getting worse and worse.”
Other Democrats joined Hochul in melting down over the funding being withheld.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer — who has aggressively championed both projects and is leading the Democrats’ opposition in the government shutdown row with the Trump administration — said the delay “royally screws commuters” in a statement on social media.
“Obstructing these projects is stupid and counterproductive because they create tens of thousands of great jobs and are essential for a strong regional and national economy,” the New York senator wrote on X.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey Democrat running for governor in the Garden State, vowed on X to “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.”
New York City mayoral race front-runner and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani also leaned into the “culture wars” argument, blasting President Trump and warning the move would “stall economic development” across the Empire State.
“Donald Trump was elected because he promised to focus on an economy that was leaving too many people behind, instead he’s using his power to score political points,” he said in a statement.
The DOT said the massive NYC-based projects in its funding review crosshairs “are arguably the largest infrastructure initiatives in the Western Hemisphere, and the American people want to see them completed quickly and efficiently.”
The MTA in August awarded a nearly $2 billion contract for the long-promised Second Avenue Subway’s second phase, which will see a new tunnel dug from 116th Street to 125th Street, as well as construction on two new subway stations in East Harlem.
The project’s first phase, completed in 2017 after a decade of work, added three stops to the Q line between 63rd Street and 96th Street at a cost of $4.45 billion. The $7.7 billion second step will expand the Q line 1.5 miles north, with three new stations expected to open by 2032.
The expansion will cost a whopping $4 billion per mile — propelling it to one of the costliest subway builds on the planet.
The $17.2 billion Hudson River tunnel project will involve repairing the existing tunnel, which was badly damaged during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, and creating a new one for Amtrak and state commuter lines between New Jersey and Manhattan.
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