Trump halts money for NYC infrastructure projects, says minority contract rules are unconstitutional
The Trump administration moved to slash billions of dollars in federal funding for New York’s two largest infrastructure projects on Wednesday, arguing that the state violates the Constitution by mandating that some of the work goes to minority- and women-owned businesses.
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Vought said those two grants are part of roughly $18 billion earmarked for New York City infrastructure projects that have been put on hold because of the state’s “unconstitutional DEI [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] principles."
Both projects are already under construction and the feds have delivered a portion of the promised grants for each.
The U.S. Department of Transportation formalized the order, stating the funding would be withheld for the projects while the administration reviews "whether any unconstitutional practices are occurring.”
New York state law requires many public works projects to set aside funding for minority- and women-owned businesses. Trump officials have argued since January the practice is unconstitutional.
The federal transportation department suggested in a statement that requiring minority- and women-owned businesses to receive work for the projects makes construction less efficient.
“The department is focusing on these projects because they are arguably the largest infrastructure initiatives in the Western Hemisphere, and the American people want to see them completed quickly and efficiently,” the department said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul quickly criticized the decision, but did not say whether New York would sue over the move, which came the same day the federal government shut down after Congress failed to pass a new funding bill.
“You can't make this up, folks. Just keeps getting worse and worse,” she said. “They're trying to make culture wars be the reason why, culture wars over the tens of thousands of jobs that we've created with these infrastructure products that were literally talked about for decades, that we finally could get moving, create jobs and opportunity and take care of infrastructure challenges that others were too timid to take on in the past."
“As we're standing here, we've done our part, we're ready to build, it's underway," Hochul added. "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."
