Overview

• OMB Director Russ Vought said funding for Chicago’s Red Line Extension and Red and Purple Modernization Project is on hold to prevent what he called race-based contracting.
• USDOT said it sent letters placing the Chicago projects under administrative review after issuing an interim final rule that bars race- and sex-based contracting requirements on federal grants.
• The move follows Vought’s earlier announcement that roughly $18 billion for New York’s Hudson Tunnel and Second Avenue Subway projects had been frozen under the same rationale.
• USDOT said reimbursements cannot be processed while the reviews proceed and noted that furloughed civil-rights staff during the shutdown are slowing the work.
• Local officials and transit advocates warned of delays, job impacts and commuter harm, and reporting indicates legal challenges are likely if the freezes persist.