What Trump’s Infrastructure Announcements Mean for States
President Donald Trump is signaling a major shift in federal infrastructure policy amidst first-week announcements and executive orders.
In an executive order, Trump directed government agencies to, “immediately pause the disbursement of funds appropriated through the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA] of 2022 … or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act [IIJA].” The acts paused are two of the Joe Biden administration’s signature legislative achievements. Those laws have directed billions of federal dollars to states and cities for projects ranging from highway expansions to electric vehicle infrastructure, water system upgrades and investments in manufacturing.
According to Governing, It’s unclear what the immediate impact of the executive order will be, given that the spending was approved by Congress. Legal precedent holds that the president cannot block congressionally approved spending. But even a slowdown in federal payouts for planned infrastructure projects could have ramifications for state and local budgets.
“The safe move [for agency administrators] is to be cautious here and listen to the letter of the executive order,” says Adie Tomer, a senior fellow at Brookings Metro, a liberal-leaning think tank. “There is reason to expect that many states and localities, irrespective of their cash reserves and risk tolerance, are going to stop projects or halt them temporarily. And that could have real costs.”
State and local transportation officials are working to understand the implications of the order. Jim Tymon, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, says the language of the order appears to affect all of the programs included in IIJA, which includes the vast majority of highway funding allocated to states. But based on conversations the group had with both agency officials and Trump administration officials, Tymon says the order is targeted at a small subset of programs, namely those aimed at promoting electric vehicles.
