Trump administration puts on hold $18 billion in funding for New York
City infrastructure projects
[October 02, 2025]
By JOSH BOAK
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump 's administration, citing the
government shutdown, said Wednesday it was putting a hold on roughly $18
billion to fund a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New
York City and New Jersey and an extension of the city's Second Avenue
subway.
The White House budget director, Russ Vought, said on X that the step
was taken due to the Republican administration’s belief the spending was
based on unconstitutional diversity, equity and inclusion principles.
In a statement, Trump's Transportation Department said it had been
reviewing whether any “unconstitutional practices” were occurring in the
two massive infrastructure projects but that the shutdown, which began
Wednesday, had forced it to furlough the staffers conducting the review.
The suspension of funds is likely meant to target Senate Democratic
leader Chuck Schumer of New York, whom the White House is blaming for
the impasse. He said the funding freeze would harm commuters.
“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,” he said on X.
The spending hold was a preview of how the messy the politics of the
shutdown could get, with Vought later posting on X that $8 billion in
funding for green energy projects in Democratic-led states would be
canceled. The administration has shown a willingness to use its control
of federal dollars to apply pressure on Democrats to reopen the
government, with commuters and thousands of jobs hanging in the balance.
The agency working on the subway line said it was blindsided by the
announcement. “For now, it looks like they’re just inventing excuses to
delay one of the most important infrastructure projects in America,”
read a statement from John McCarthy, policy chief and spokesperson for
the New York state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
At a news conference in New York City about the federal government
shutdown, Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., told reporters, “The bad news just
keeps coming."
“That’s what a partnership with Washington looks like as we’re standing
here. We’ve done our part. We’re ready to build. It’s underway,” she
said. “And now we realize that they’ve decided to put their own
interpretation of proper culture ahead of our needs, the needs of a
nation.”
The Hudson River rail tunnel is a long-delayed project whose path toward
construction has been full of political and funding switchbacks. It’s
intended to ease the strain on a more than 110-year-old tunnel
connecting New York and New Jersey. Hundreds of Amtrak and commuter
trains carry hundreds of thousands of passengers per day through the
tunnel, and delays can ripple up and down the East Coast between Boston
and Washington.
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President Joe Biden arrives at the construction site of the Hudson
Tunnel Project, Jan. 31, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo,
File)
In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Schumer said he and
then-President Joe Biden were both “giddy” over the project.
Amtrak and the NJ Transit commuter rail system referred questions
about the White House's announcement to the Gateway Development
Commission, which is overseeing the tunnel project. Commission CEO
Thomas Prendergast said the agency remains “focused on keeping the
project on scope, schedule and budget.”
The commission did not address questions about the specifics of the
funding suspension or what it means for the project.
The Trump administration specifically targeted New York City in
putting a hold on the funding, but the move could also influence
this year's election for governor in New Jersey.
The Democratic nominee, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, said on X that if
elected, she would "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.”
Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli's campaign said Sherrill owns
the consequences of the shutdown.
“If Mikie Sherrill did her job as a congresswoman, we wouldn’t be in
this mess,” Ciattarelli campaign consultant Chris Russell said by
email.
Sherrill countered in a statement that “Washington Republicans must
come to the table immediately to find a bipartisan consensus on a
plan that reopens the government.”
The Second Avenue subway was first envisioned in the 1920s. The
subway line along Manhattan’s Second Avenue was an on-again,
off-again grail until the first section opened on Jan. 1, 2017. The
MTA is working toward building the line's second phase, which is to
extend into East Harlem.
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Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York,
Jennifer Peltz in New York and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey,
contributed to this report.
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