WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday said it would withhold $2.1 billion in previously awarded for two Chicago Transit Authority infrastructure projects, citing a rule issued earlier in the week barring Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs for federally funded projects.
The move is the second this week targeting major transit projects in locations with state and local governments led by Democrats, following the earlier announcement that the federal government would withhold almost $18 billion in funding for transit projects in the New York City area [see “Trump administration freezes federal support …,” Trains.com, Oct. 1, 2025].
The decision halts a grant finalized earlier this year by the Federal Transit Administration for $1.97 billion for the CTA’s Red Line Extension [see “FTA finalizes grant …,” Trains.com, Jan. 10, 2025]. That project would add 5.5 miles and four new stations south of the current Red Line terminus at 95th Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway. Also affected is the CTA’s Red and Purple Modernization Project for improvements on those two rapid transit lines. Phase one of that project, including a new bypass, four new stations, and a new signal system, is largely complete.
“Illinois, like New York, is well known to promote race- and sex-based contracting and other racial preferences as a public policy,” the DOT said in a press release. It said the agency would review those projects to “ensure no additional federal dollars go towards discriminatory, illegal, and wasteful contracting practices,” but that that review process would be delayed by the current shutdown of the federal government.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson blasted the decision as “politically motivated” in a press release, and said the city will “use every tool at our disposal to restore this funding.”
“Argentina gets $20 billion,” Johnson said, referring to a proposed administration bailout for the economy of that South American nation, “and the South Side gets nothing. What happened to America First?”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — a vocal critic of the Trump administration — said in a social media post that the administration is “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.”
Well then surely Trump is going to pull federal funding for transit for:
•Minok, ND
•Dallas, TX
•Pittsburgh, PA
•San Francisco, CA
•Tillamook, OR
And the many many other cities who receive federal funding while their transit is operating at a loss post-pandemic.
Otherwise, it’s not really about affordability or mismanagement — it’s about punishing Chicago because its leadership opposes Trump.
The federal government is ponying up 170 billion more dollars for ICE over 4 years, we’ve sent 170+ billion to Israel, a recent 20 billion to Argentina. Spare us the pearl-clutching about how we can’t print money. They fund the things they care about; here we see another example of them not caring about the average working class American.
@CHARLES LANDEY:
It’s wild how quickly people start shouting “mismanagement” when it’s a blue-state city investing in transit — yet go completely silent when red states take billions more in federal aid per capita while refusing to raise their own taxes. Illinois, like most donor states, subsidizes your “taker” state lifestyle. The reason you pay less in Wisconsin is because our tax dollars keep your roads paved and your hospitals open.
These funds were already secured — legally and competitively — before this new “rule” dropped out of nowhere to gut DEI programs. This isn’t about fiscal prudence; it’s political retaliation. The Trump-run DOT just froze $18 billion for New York and now $2.1 billion for Chicago — both Democratic metros — while mysteriously leaving red-district projects untouched. Funny how “wasteful spending” only applies where people vote blue.
And let’s be real: the Red Line Extension isn’t a vanity project. It’s about connecting predominantly Black, working-class neighborhoods that have been ignored for half a century. Killing that investment under the pretext of “anti-discrimination” is a racist dog whistle wrapped in budget cosplay.
So spare us the fake concern over federal deficits while cheering for a government that prints trillions for corporate bailouts, war budgets, and tax cuts for billionaires. Public transit is nation-building infrastructure — not charity. Chicago’s rail system isn’t “at its end.” I take the El DAILY. It’s under attack by an administration terrified of equity, progress, and the idea that Black communities deserve the same mobility as everyone else. Stay in Wisconsin, stay in your bubble of ignorance.
As I said Tarryn, I support rail transit and I ride rail transit. Including in Illinois. I have never called an Uber and seldom a taxi. When I visit a city, including Chicago (and Boston, Cleveland, NorCal, London, Amsterdam, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, Seattle, Detroit, Denver etc.), I ride transit (bus or rail). It’s not my fault that in many American cities, ridership has plummeted. I still ride. I never said transit is a luxury. You’re putting words in my mouth. Let’s count the number of times I’ve ridden transit compared to you. I don’t know who you are or where you live. I’ve been riding transit (bus or rail) since around 1950 (back then, with a parent), including, at times, as a regular daily commuter.
Rail (and bus) transit is in trouble in Illinois and everywhere else in America until ridership numbers increase and fare jumping decreases.
A couple of days ago I saw a Milwaukee County Transit System bus in West Allis with ZERO passengers. One or two passengers, sometimes three, is more common.
I would hope that the people of Chicago (as in your post) get their new train, and ditto the people of Harlem and East Bronx get their Second Avenue Subway, which should have been built half a century ago. We can “HOPE” but as chess players say, “Hope isn’t a strategy.” It ain’t going to happen until (paid) ridership increases and construction costs come down.
Very well stated, Tarryn. Logical, well-developed and accurate argument. Thanks.
I support rail transit. That said, the federal government can no longer be the ATM for local mismanagement.
Illinois clearly cannot afford this project on its own budget. The federals can’t afford it either. The federals have no money, they print $2 Trillion a year of money that doesn’t exist.
As a SE Wisconsin resident, I visit Chicago and enjoy its rail system greatly. But it’s reaching the end. RTA is effectively bankrupt. Trump won’t bail it out, and there is no reason why he should.