The White House budget director Russ Vought said the Trump administration will withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, including money for the CTA, expanding funding fights that have targeted Democratic areas during the government shutdown .

The pause affects a long-awaited plan to extend the Chicago Transit Authority's Red Line train, and modernization plans for the Red and Purple lines, according to a memo from the Department of Transportation. Vought wrote on social media Friday that the money was “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”

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

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