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Trump unfreezes money for Second Avenue subway after standoff over 'DEI principles'
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Apr 16, 2026
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By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Apr 16, 2026
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The Trump administration announced Thursday it would resume funding for the Second Avenue subway project, ending a six-month standoff with the MTA that began during last fall’s federal government shutdown.
White House Budget Director Russell Vought on Oct. 1 — the day the shutdown began — announced the feds would stop making payments on a $3.4 billion grant approved for the MTA to build the subway extension. He said at the time the U.S. Department of Transportation would review whether the MTA issued contracts “based on unconstitutional DEI principles.”
The feds sent a letter to MTA Chair Janno Lieber Thursday stating they’d finished the review, which “uncovered troubling information” that found the agency was considering “race and sex as part of both the prime and subcontract bidding and contract awards” for its major construction projects. But the letter also said the MTA complied with the Trump administration’s requirements and that funding for the Second Avenue subway would resume.
New York state agencies like the MTA require a portion of construction contracts go to minority- and women-owned businesses. The federal government issued an interim rule in October challenging those requirements nationwide as part of the Trump administration’s fight against “DEI,” an acronym for “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
“Thanks to President Trump and [Transportation] Secretary [Sean] Duffy, taxpayers can rest assured their hard-earned dollars will not fund unconstitutional DEI initiatives, including illegal race- and sex-based contracts which historically cause project costs to balloon,” said U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson Danna Almeida.
The MTA said it has complied with the new federal rules since they were put in place.
The USDOT sent the letter just minutes before they were set to meet with the MTA in the U.S. Court of Claims in Washington, D.C. as part of a lawsuit the transit agency filed demanding the feds release the money.
“It shouldn’t have taken seven months and a lawsuit to get here, but with the federal government’s concession today on the courthouse steps, the MTA can now confidently forge ahead with Second Avenue Subway Phase 2,” MTA Chair Janno Lieber wrote in a statement.
The MTA sought $60 million worth of reimbursements for the projects in its lawsuit. The agency will now have to resubmit every reimbursement request “to ensure prompt payment,” according to Thursday's letter from the U.S. DOT.
Lieber said the MTA can move forward with a new contract that will build the train stations for the project, which the board approved in March.
The feds in October also cited “DEI principles” in halting funding for the Gateway project, which aims to build two new train tunnels underneath the Hudson River, but a federal judge in February ordered the Trump administration to release the funding.
The Second Avenue subway extension aims to bring the Q line into East Harlem and build three new train stations in the neighborhood. The total project is estimated to cost $7.7 billion. Construction began in early 2024, and officials plan to open the extension for service in 2032.
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Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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