CHICAGO (WLS) — President Donald Trump’s administration will withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, the White House budget director said Friday, expanding funding fights that have targeted Democratic areas on day three of the government shutdown.

The pause affects a long-awaited plan to extend the city’s Red Line train from 95th Street to 130th Street. The money was “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting,” budget director Russ Vought wrote on social media.

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Vought made a similar announcement earlier this week involving New York, where he said $18 billion for infrastructure would be paused, including funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.

Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement, “At a time when federal agents are sowing chaos in Chicago, the Trump administration is holding bipartisan funding hostage.

“It’s attempting to score political points but is instead hurting our economy and the hardworking people who rely on public transit to get to work or school.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a statement saying, “Argentina gets $20 billion and the South Side gets nothing. What happened to America First?

“South Siders have waited for more than 50 years for the Red Line Extension. This project will bring 25,000 jobs to the Chicago area and billions in new development. The Red Line Extension is the single largest investment in the Far South Side in a generation. This is about Roseland and Altgeld Gardens and West Pullman and Riverdale and Woodlawn. One fourth of the residents in the area live below the poverty line. The Red Line Extension is about bringing jobs, economic development, and connectivity to the Far South Side, which will benefit our city as a whole.

“Right when we are finally on the brink of moving forward, Trump just cut off the funding. From public safety to public education to public transit, this president is cutting the services that working people rely upon.

“The Red and Purple Modernization Project has already brought tangible improvements for North Side transit riders, including reduced travel times and four brand-new, fully-accessible stations. This work was set to continue in the coming years with additional stations rebuilt to be fully accessible. These improvements would have benefited the more than 175,000 daily riders while increasing economic vitality in the surrounding communities.

“We are calling for these cuts to be immediately reversed, and we will use every tool at our disposal to restore this funding. Chicagoans have waited far too long to turn back now. We will fight to ensure that the Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project move forward.”

But the city is planning to fight back.

The funding fight seems to be in part over the minority set aside contracts that are part of the project.

Johnson says the city will take the Trump administration to court to try and restore the money for a critical rail project that has been in the works for decades.

The U.S. Department of Transportation said it is in the process of reviewing the funding for the project, “to ensure no additional federal dollars go towards discriminatory, illegal, and wasteful contracting practices.”

That could undermine the city’s efforts to ensure work on extending the Red Line includes women- and minority-owned businesses as part of its equity and inclusion goals.

“It’s not the end of it. You know, this president is not going to stop our progress. Now, look, he has made it very clear who he prioritizes, and it’s not West Side, South Side,” Johnson said.

“The Trump Administration’s decision to pause $2.1 billion in funds that are contractually obligated for the CTA Red Line Extension Project and the Red and Purple Modernization Program is not only illegal, but vindictive. This threatens progress made through a decade’s worth of cooperation between local, state, and federal officials to bring better transit options to Chicagoans and to Americans visiting our city, from red and blue states alike. This decision also jeopardizes tens of thousands of jobs-including jobs for people who voted for Trump-and the economic growth they create. Delaying them for political gain directly harms the city, its residents, and the economy,” Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth said.

“We cannot ignore that OMB Director Vought, at the direction of the President, is cruelly targeting states that did not vote for President Trump in the 2024 election, without any regard for how many Americans he hurts-and seemingly as a political chess move during a government shutdown, of all times. This is a blatant abuse of power by a President and an Administration that would rather settle petty personal scores than help the American people. This is not normal.

“The Trump Administration should immediately release any holds on this funding.”

Trump, a Republican, has embraced Vought’s tactics. On Thursday night, he posted a video depicting him as the reaper, wearing a hood and holding a scythe.

Losing the money would be a significant setback for Chicago’s transportation plans. The Red Line extension is slated to add four train stops on the city’s South Side, improving access for disadvantaged communities.

“I think at best, it’s an attempt to pressure our Illinois senators to vote for what is a bad funding bill. Worst case scenario is it’s a part of an additional war on these cities that they’re not going to fund anything, transit, housing. That would be devastating for Chicago,” said U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Chicago.

Quigley notes what the Trump administration is doing is illegal.

“We finally got this in the process where we can see the end. This actually would take place, incredibly important for the economy and for the wellbeing of people on the South Side. This may halt that for good,” Quigley said.

Chicago has relied on its past clout in Washington to help pay for big transit projects in the past.

The largest federal transit grant in CTA history is helping fund the ongoing the Red and Purple Modernization Project on the North Side and the Red Line extension.

Trump’s decision to freeze the federal funds is likely to wind up in court.

“He’s going to litigate in hopes that he delays and raises the cost on his opponents, which seems to be the game over and over and over and over again,” said Professor Wayne Steger, with the DePaul University Political Science Department. “Trump’s ability to go after racial ethnic minorities and programs that disproportionately benefit racial and ethnic minorities, this is very much in the playbook.”

But, is it legal to use minority contracts as a reason to freeze the federal funds?

“I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as the people surrounding the president do that. It would be illegal for Chicago to have things like set aside contracting,” said Professor Paul Gowder, with Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

Besides 14th Amendment challenges, Gowder says there are a few different legal questions that must be sorted out in court over the frozen funds. Gowder says while Congress appropriates money for transportation projects, the president’s executive authority to withhold the funds depends on the details of the original bill.

“It really depends on whether or not it’s mandatory funds or discretionary funds, whether or not it was something that was funded in prior years or something that’s got still ongoing funding,” Gowder said.

Johnson insists the CTA projects will continue, but he did not say how they will without federal funds. The city and state both face big financial challenges.

A broader modernization project for the Red and Purple lines on the North Side, which Vought said was also being targeted, is intended to upgrade stations and remove a bottleneck where different lines intersect.

Alderman Bennet Lawson said most of the work is already done.

In New York’s case, Trump’s Transportation Department said it had been reviewing whether any “unconstitutional practices” were occurring in the two massive infrastructure projects but that the government shutdown, which began Wednesday, had forced it to furlough the staffers conducting the review.

The suspension of funds for the Hudson River tunnel project and a Second Avenue subway line extension is likely meant to target Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, whom the White House is blaming for the impasse. The New York senator said the funding freeze would harm commuters.

“Obstructing these projects is stupid and counterproductive because they create tens of thousands of great jobs and are essential for a strong regional and national economy,” Schumer said on X.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.