Congressional Democrats express concern that the delays involve “political considerations.”
Congressional Democrats have accused the Federal Transit Administration and White House budget office of stymying grants meant for major transit construction projects around the country, stalling efforts to expand subways, railroads and bus infrastructure.
The multibillion-dollar Capital Investment Grants program, which helps communities fund transit expansion projects they often cannot afford on their own, has awarded no new grant funding since the start of the Trump administration.
In a letter to the F.T.A. and budget office Tuesday, 42 Democrats from the House and Senate, including many who represent communities seeking these funds, demanded that the administration immediately advance projects under the program. Dozens of communities are pursuing funding for ambitious transit infrastructure in a multiyear pipeline. But the Trump administration has yet to sign a grant agreement with any of them, a drought detailed in a New York Times article last month that the lawmakers cited in the letter.
Under the second Trump administration, major projects have been held up for months from entering a critical final stage of the program. The budget office has made unusual moves with the program’s funding, pushing more than $5 billion appropriated by Congress out of reach for new grants this fiscal year.
And the administration tried to cut off funds to three marquee projects in states run by Democrats — the Gateway Tunnel and Second Avenue Subway in the New York area, and the Red Line extension in Chicago — that received grants under the Biden administration. Russell Vought, the White House budget director, said at the time that the administration froze the funds to ensure they were not “based on unconstitutional D.E.I. principles.” Federal judges have since blocked the moves.
“We have watched for months,” the Democrats wrote, as the two agencies “have stonewalled the progress of worthy transit projects while President Trump and Department of Transportation Secretary Duffy are proclaiming a commitment to a ‘golden age of transportation.’”
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