The Trump administration didn't waste time in blocking federal projects when the federal shutdown began on October 1.
The Trump administration began announcing it was canceling federal projects soon after the shutdown began on Wednesday
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), speaks to members of the media outside the White House (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images).
The Trump administration didn't waste time in blocking federal projects when the federal shutdown began on October 1.
Now in the third week of the shutdown, White House budget director Russ Vought is setting in motion a pause on federal funding to government-backed projects in Democratic-led cities.
On Friday, he announced that another $11 billion for "lower-priority projects" in New York, Baltimore, Boston and San Francisco was getting put on ice since the Army Corps of Engineers was drained of funding. The Army Corps of Engineers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Here's a list of cancelled projects so far, which will be updated.
New York: On Oct. 1, Vought wrote on social media that the administration was putting $18 billion in funding for two New York infrastructure projects on ice. The affected projects was one meant to upgrade the Hudson Tunnel along with another to expand the Second Avenue subway with two additional stops in upper Manhattan.
Notably, New York is the home state for the top two Democratic congressional leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy later said in a statement the designated funding won't be distributed while the federal government reviews what it called "discriminatory, unconstitutional contracting processes" in New York state. The Department of Transportation also warned the review would take longer to complete since fewer staffers are on hand during the shutdown.
Chicago: Vought said that the Trump administration was freezing $2.1 billion for two projects in Chicago meant to renovate the city's public transit system.
The DOT said it was halting the funding designated for the Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line extension along with the Red and Purple Modernization program, pending an administrative review similar to the one it's conducting in New York. The projects underway will add four new subway stations and upgrade some existing ones.
Vought said on Oct. 1 that $8 billion in clean energy projects were getting cancelled in 16 states. Those states included California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington state.
The Department of Energy hasn't yet listed the specific projects to be targeted. In a statement on the canceled projects, the agency said it "determined that these projects did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars."
All 16 states, though, have Democratic senators that voted to block an interim government funding bill.
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