The Trump administration announced earlier this month that it’s freezing nearly $18 billion in federal infrastructure funding for New York appropriated by Congress and would conduct reviews to weed out DEI practices among the recipients.
Of the infrastructure funding freeze, which coincided with the federal government shutdown, Russell Vought, President Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote on X: “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.”
The U.S. Transportation Department also announced it would withhold funds from New York City, including $34 million in a federal Transit Security Grant Program earmarked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), also citing DEI concerns as a reason and New York City’s status as a “sanctuary city.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul rebuked the Trump administration for cutting critical safety and security funding for New York’s mass transit system.
Hochul said: “Since 9/11, New York has relied on federal support to ensure that our transit system has the counterterrorism resources it needs to keep millions of riders safe every single day. The shocking actions of Washington Republicans to slash these funds and defund the police put New York City at risk. We will not tolerate these cuts; New York will take every action available to us — including the courts — to ensure the MTA gets this critical funding to keep millions of riders safe.”
Today while at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, New York, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy criticized the cleanliness and safety of the transportation system in the Big Apple. As seen below at a press conference, Duffy said:
“If you’re a Democrat, you’re a liberal, you don’t like cars and you want people to ride public transportation, I think that’s wonderful, good for you. But if you want us all to ride public transportation, make it safe. Make it clean. Make is beautiful.”
Sean Duffy: “If you’re a Democrat, you’re a liberal, you don’t like cars and you want people to ride public transportation, I think that’s wonderful, good for you. But if you want us all to ride public transportation, make it safe. Make it clean. Make is beautiful. I don’t know… pic.twitter.com/1Geop5dVxt
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 28, 2025
Duffy added, “I don’t know why New York can’t do that. I don’t know why I have to convince the Governor to actually get engaged and say we’re gonna make the subways safer and cleaner. I shouldn’t have to. I think there should be an uprising in the city.”
Duffy’s inflammatory language — “an uprising” — is being criticized during a time when the President is controversially sending National Guard troops into numerous American cities to quell what the administration characterizes as “war zones” in places like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland. (Trump’s characterization is derided as fictional by the governors of California, Illinois and Oregon.)
Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, a Democratic candidate for NYC Comptroller, responded to Duffy’s press conference by posting data: “Crimes per 1M mass transit trips… * NYC: 1.3 * Miami: 2.6 * Dallas: 38.0.”
Note: The Trump administration threats of cutting off federal funds from New York isn’t limited to punishment for alleged DEI policies. President Trump has also threatened to use the power of the purse to stifle the prospects of Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani — whom Trump says is “a 100% Communist Lunatic.”
Trump has warned New York voters that if Mamdani wins the election next week, he will not provide federal funds to allow Mamdani to make good on various campaign pledges, including transit-oriented promises like making public buses free. “Rest assured, I hold all the levers, and have all the cards,” Trump said in a social media post about Mamdani.