White House freezes $18 billion in New York City infrastructure funding

White House budget director Russell Vought said Wednesday that the Trump administration was putting on hold billions of dollars of funding for infrastructure projects in New York City, hours after the federal government shut down.

White House budget director Russell Vought said Wednesday that the Trump administration was putting on hold billions of dollars of funding for infrastructure projects in New York City, hours after the federal government shut down.

Vought wrote on X that he would be pausing $18 billion in funding for infrastructure projects to “ensure” that the money was not “flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles.”

“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,” Vought wrote.

“Specifically, the Hudson Tunnel Project and the Second Ave Subway,” he added in a second post.

The announcement, coming on the first day of the federal government shutdown, would dramatically affect major projects for the home state and city of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.