JIM WATSON / AFP
On the first day of the federal government shutdown, the Trump administration fired a financial salvo at New York City, home to Senate Minority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries by freezing $18 billion in infrastructure dollars budgeted by Congress. Schumer and Jeffries are key Democrats in the budget dispute with the White House.
"Roughly $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles," said Russell Vought, head of the federal Office of Management and Budget, in a post on X .
In a separate post , the U.S. Department of Transportation explicitly linked the federal review to the shutdown, saying, "USDOT's review of New York's u