The U.S. government has frozen $2.1 billion in funding for major Chicago infrastructure projects, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced Friday. The projects impacted include the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) Red Line Extension and the Red and Purple Modernization Project, critical initiatives aimed at modernizing one of the nation’s largest transit systems. According to Vought, funding was halted to ensure compliance with a new rule prohibiting race-based contracting, part of a broader review by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). This decision follows similar actions earlier in the week, when $18 billion in transit projects in New York, such as the Hudson Tunnel and Second Avenue Subway, were also put on hold. The USDOT also announced it would delay a $300 million reimbursement for the subway project due to the shutdown.