NORTH KINGSTOWN − The fate of $600 million in federal funding for Rhode Island highway projects, including the westbound Washington Bridge, is up in the air as President Donald Trump looks to halt spending on climate policies enacted by his predecessor Joe Biden.
This has resulted in a freeze in federal spending on previously authorized projects, Rhode Island’s all-Democratic congressional delegation said in a letter to Trump’s budget director Sunday, even if they are not directly related to clean energy or climate change.
“In particular, we are alarmed that the administration is blocking the release of over $600 million in competitive grant funding for more than 10 Rhode Island transportation projects,” the delegation wrote. “These grants include over $220 million for the Interstate-195 Washington Bridge, which has been partially closed since December 2023 due to a catastrophic failure, and more than $250 million to address 15 bridges along Rhode Island’s busy I-95 corridor, which span critical rail and roadway infrastructure.”
How did Washington Bridge funding end up on the chopping block?
Rhode Island’s bridge grants are among the pieces of federal policy called into question by the flurry of executive orders, some broad and non-specific, Trump signed on his first day in office.
The order stressing Rhode Island officials seeks to “unleash America’s affordable and reliable energy and natural resources.” and “terminate the Green New Deal.”
Although the Green New Deal sought by progressive lawmakers was never enacted, Trump has linked it to climate-related policies in the Biden-signed Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and Inflation Reduction Act. Those bills authorized grant programs Rhode Island hopes to use to rebuild highways.
The troubled westbound span of the Washington Bridge.
In an interview at an unrelated groundbreaking Monday, Sen. Jack Reed said his colleagues from all over the country, including Republicans, have been scrambling to figure out what Trump’s order means.
“They’ve created a great deal of confusion, because they’ve essentially said we’ve freezed this money, but this affects projects all over the country,” Reed said. We’re still trying to find out, is that freeze just temporary? Is it particular to certain projects? Our case is very, we think, compelling. It was duly authorized. We went through the process. The grant was issued. It’s our money.”
A day after Trump’s energy abundance executive order was issued, his office of management and budget put out a memo seeking to clarify the spending pause, which said it “only applies to funds supporting programs, projects, or activities that may be implicated by the policy … consistent with section 7’s heading (‘Terminating the Green New Deal’).”
Why the Washington Bridge funding might be safe
The construction of a new Washington Bridge span and 15 new bridges along the Interstate 95 corridor are, perhaps fortunately for Rhode Island officials, traditional highway projects without any overt climate or decarbonization benefit.
“These projects would be exempt from that order,” Rhode Island Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr. told WPRO on Thursday. “We are working with the [Federal Highway Administration] to make sure these projects have a finding with them that says they are not a part of the Green New Deal.”
Gov. Dan McKee in a statement Monday said he is “optimistic that this funding for the Washington Bridge will come through as planned” and demolition of the old bridge continues.
Trump’s early orders have shown an expansive view of presidential power and, in some cases, come into tension with laws passed by Congress.
On Monday Reed and U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner said if Trump tries to take back money that has already been authorized, they will take the issue to court.
“They issued a series of executive orders, some of which are likely illegal, and many of which appear to be poorly drafted and not well thought through,” Magaziner said after the groundbreaking. “And if they try to stop funding projects that have already been awarded and contracted, it’s going to lead to litigation and they likely will be unsuccessful. But hopefully it won’t come to that.”
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Did Trump defund the new Washington Bridge? Here’s why the money is frozen.
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