Trump Administration Pulls $1.5 Billion in Health and Transportation Funds From Blue States

Federal dollars promised to blue states are suddenly back on the chopping block, with the Trump administration pulling major support from both transportation and public health programs.

According to The New York Post, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed Thursday that $1.5 billion in funding is being rescinded from several Democratic-led states. The Department of Transportation was instructed to withdraw $943 million, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was directed to cut $602 million in grants.

The transportation money largely supported electric vehicle charging projects and other clean transit efforts like green buses. The public health funding was tied to state and local grants that the administration labeled as too “woke.” According to the OMB spokesperson, the cuts are aimed at “states fraught with waste and mismanagement.”

The affected states include Colorado, Illinois, California, and Minnesota. The move arrives as Minnesota faces a separate fraud scandal and follows earlier attempts by the administration to claw back funding from the same group of states. Specific transportation cuts include $100 million for EV charger deployment in Illinois near underserved communities, $15 million for projects in Minneapolis and St. Paul, $15 million for a Bay Area charging network, and $4.9 million for installations in Colorado neighborhoods with low and middle incomes.

Health-related cuts hit programs such as $5.2 million for Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to expand HIV prevention through PrEP, $3 million for Colorado initiatives targeting COVID-19 health disparities, and $500,000 for the University of California to study intimate-partner violence among LGBTQ youth.

A Transportation Department spokesperson said the agency was “moving forward with executing on OMB’s plan.” Colorado Governor Jared Polis’ office pushed back, with spokesperson Eric Maruyama stating, “There is nothing ‘woke’ about making sure American roads are safer for everyone,” and adding, “We will continue to fight back against unlawful grant terminations by the federal administration.”

Environmental groups are also challenging the broader rollback. Sierra Club Clean Transportation for All Director Katherine García said, “Another day, another example of the Trump administration illegally attempting to eliminate clean energy infrastructure funds that have been promised to communities for cleaner vehicles, cleaner air, and good jobs,” later adding, “they will not succeed in withholding Congressionally-mandated federal funds for EV charging.”