The U.S. Department of Transportation has withheld funding for two infrastructure projects in New York City to review the legality of the contracting practices involved. The Administration put a hold on roughly $18 billion to fund a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey and an extension of the city's Second Avenue subway.

According to a DOT statement, the Department has issued an interim final rule barring race- and sex-based contracting requirements from federal grants, and these are arguably the largest infrastructure initiatives in the Western Hemisphere. But because of the current shutdown of the federal government, DOT has had to suspend the review of contracting practices until funding is restored by Congress.