Sun-Times: Trump freezes $2.1B for Chicago projects, Red Line extension in shutdown fight with Dems

Red Line Extension

This is terrible and thanks to the feud between Trump & Pritzker and we could include the Mayor also. It's a shame because the Red Line extension is a worthwhile project.

Sun-Times:

The White House on Friday said it is withholding $2.1 billion in funding for Chicago infrastructure projects, including the CTA’s Red Line extension, as President Donald Trump escalates his fight with the city and follows through on his threat to punish Democrats over the government shutdown.

White House budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media that he was specifically targeting the Red Line South Side project as well as the Red and Purple Line modernization project, “to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”

Chicago Democrats railed against the decision, with Sen. Dick Durbin calling it an illegal freeze. Gov. JB Pritzker accused Trump of “holding bipartisan funding hostage” and hurting hardworking people. And Mayor Brandon Johnson said the president is “cutting the services that working people rely on.”

“So why would this administration decide to target thousands of working families when it comes to their electric bills and when it comes to transportation? Because Donald Trump wants to punish states like Illinois and the people who live there because they didn’t vote for him in the last election,” Durbin said on the Senate floor Friday morning. “This is petty. It’s unfair. It’s wrong. These vindictive actions will cost Illinoisans jobs.”

Do you think this is about the President's war on cities?

U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a North Side Democrat, was among those in the Illinois congressional delegation who worked to nail down a $2 billion “full funding” contract for the Red Line extension in hopes of making the project “Trump-proof” and speed funding to Chicago.

Quigley said Friday he believes the presidential “pause” is part of Trump’s “war on cities” that could very well kill the long-awaited project to extend mass transit to the only part of the city without it.

“They say it’s just a pause. But I believe there’s a very real chance that the Red Line funding doesn’t go through during the Trump administration,” Quigley said. “If they can get away with this, I believe they’re going to cut off every bit of federal funding they can to cities, and this is just the start.”

Normally, Quigley said a federal funding pause during a budget battle would be temporary. But those traditional rules of engagement don’t apply to Trump, he said.

“This is the retribution tour and part of the retribution is blue (Democratic) cities. This is the opening salvo,” Quigley said.

Finally we already know the President doesn't like the Governor of Illinois nor the Mayor of Chicago:

“The mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois are two of the people that this president doesn’t like,” Quigley said.

Johnson on Friday said the CTA projects will benefit more than 175,000 daily riders and boost economic development in surrounding neighborhoods. He vowed to use “every single tool” at his disposal to ensure the Red Line extension project continues.

“The legal route — absolutely. Resistance in our streets in peacefully assembling and petitioning this government to do its part. Looking at legislation,” Johnson said. “This is not just an egregious act. He is working outside of the parameters of what our ordinances and our state law provides for — minority and women-owned participation… The South Side has fought for this for 50 years, and we have finally delivered it. And after 50 years of struggle to make sure that the South Side is prioritized, this president is gonna try to disrupt that? Not on my watch.”

A nice bonus Ald. Anthony Beale was quoted at the end: 

Far South Side Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) was 2 years old when then Mayor Richard J. Daley cut the ribbon on a 95th Street station and promised the extension needed to relieve Far South Side residents from what former Federal Transit Administration chief Nuria Fernandez called “mega-commutes” as long as 90 minutes one way.

Beale said he is “not concerned one iota” about the Trump administration’s decision.

“This is just a tactic that they’re trying to use as leverage in order to force the Democrats to do something and I’m not going to take the bait,” Beale said.

Hmmm, take the bait for what? I will agree though this is about his battle with Democrats, Congressional Democrats and certainly the leadership of the city and state.

I do hope this gets sorted out soon.