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The Trump administration decided to freeze $11 billion in federal funds allocated to heavily Democratic cities. Infrastructure projects As the government shutdown continues with no end in sight.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), made the announcement Friday while pinning the shutdown on Democrats, whose actions he said left him no choice but to halt spending.
“Democrats’ shutdown has sapped the Army Corps of Engineers’ ability to manage multibillion-dollar projects,” Vought posted in X.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought speaks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House on July 17, 2025, as workers continue construction on the Hudson Tunnel Project in New York. The White House has halted $18 billion worth of infrastructure funding, including the Hudson Tunnel and Second Avenue subway, amid the ongoing federal shutdown. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Michael Nagel/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump is using the government shutdown to do something no president has done before
“The Corps will immediately pause and consider canceling more than $11 billion in low-priority projects, including projects in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Baltimore. More information will come from the Army Corps of Engineers.”
The Office of Management and Budget said New York will be hardest hit, with about $7 billion frozen, while other affected projects are in Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Delaware. Reuters.
The money includes $600 million to build two aging, federally owned bridges that span the Cape Cod Canal in Massachusetts, which are scheduled to be replaced and carry millions of passengers annually.
The Office of Management and Budget told the outlet that President Donald Trump “wants to redirect how the federal government prioritizes Army Corps projects.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul responded to Vought on
Workers at a construction site for the Gateway Program’s Hudson Tunnel project in New York City on October 3, 2025. The White House has frozen billions of dollars in infrastructure funding, including money for the Hudson Tunnel and Second Avenue subway, amid an ongoing budget impasse. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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Meanwhile, Massachusetts leaders also pushed back, with Governor Maura Healey saying that senators had not received any formal notification from Washington and that the bridge replacement project was still legally funded and approved by Congress.
Vought has already targeted the Big Apple’s funds, freezing nearly $18 billion in federal funds on the first day of the shutdown of two of New York City’s largest infrastructure projects — the Hudson Tunnel and the Second Avenue subway.
The funds were held back “to ensure that funding does not flow based on unconstitutional DEI principles,” Foote said.
The Trump administration has already frozen at least $28 billion in previous rounds of infrastructure and climate-related projects. Trump also pledged to eliminate what he called “Democratic agencies” and sought to eliminate 4,100 federal jobs.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is joined by Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Whip Tom Emmer, and Brian Steele at a news conference on the tenth day of the government shutdown on October 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Anna Rose Leyden/Getty Images)
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The funding holdup stems from the Oct. 1 shutdown after Senate lawmakers failed to reach a spending deal in time for the end of fiscal year 2025 — after a short-term extension of fiscal year 2025 funding, intended to keep the government open through Nov. 21 — passed the House essentially along party lines earlier in September.
Republicans like Vaught have placed the blame for the shutdown on Democrats, arguing that they refused to fund the budget as an attempt to restore taxpayer-funded medical benefits to illegal immigrants through Democratic lawmakers’ ongoing resolution, which would include extending expiring Obamacare tax credits.
Democratic leadership disputed the claims, saying Trump and Republican lawmakers were actually behind the shutdown.
Fox News’ Amanda Macias and Emma Colton contributed to this report.