Sen. Fetterman says Trump administration will release $1 billion for Pa. infrastructure projects

President Donald Trump’s administration will soon release more than $1 billion in federal grant money for infrastructure projects across Pennsylvania, according to Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who has been pushing for the funding to be released.

The Department of Transportation confirmed Friday that some of the funding has been committed, but also indicated that dollars for other projects are still going through a review process.

The list of grants, provided to The Inquirer by Fetterman, includes 53 projects across the state totaling about $1.2 billion. All of the projects were approved under former President Joe Biden, largely through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but were held up by the new administration, in some cases causing delays in infrastructure and transportation projects, Fetterman’s office said.

The Department of Transportation, in a statement after this story was published, said that 10 “priority grants” that the agency had discussed with Fetterman cleared a review and the rest were still pending. Two were already obligated.

The DOT is in the process of reviewing thousands of grants awarded under Biden to see whether they comply with the administration’s policy priorities. The agency said Biden’s administration left 100 announced grants to Pennsylvania behind, leaving Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy “the more complex task of executing on these grant agreements.”

“Under President Trump’s leadership we have scrubbed dozens of these awards of social justice and Green New Scam elements to ensure taxpayer dollars are focused on safety and efficiency only,” a spokesperson for the agency said in an email statement.

Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s senior senator, has met several times with Duffy since April in hopes of safeguarding state projects and to compel Duffy to move quickly in reviewing them. He’d heard from local officials and heads of transit agencies concerned about halted funding.

“When I stopped by Secretary Duffy’s office in April, he readily and graciously received me for an unannounced visit,” Fetterman said in a statement. “I came in good faith to work across the aisle and fight for these endangered infrastructure projects ... More than $1 billion in funding that was at risk is now back on track.”

Fetterman was one of 23 Democrats to vote for Duffy’s confirmation in January. Duffy represented Wisconsin in the U.S. House for eight years and spent stints as an on-air personality for CNN and Fox Business prior to his appointment.

Fetterman voted for several of Trump’s cabinet nominees and visited the president at Mar-a-Lago early in his term, winning praise from Republicans for bipartisanship and attracting the frustration of some in his party.

He described his discussions with Duffy as evidence of bipartisanship at work.

“Secretary Duffy and I put politics aside and affirmed that our nation’s infrastructure is bipartisan,” Fetterman said, calling Duffy a “man of his word.”

The list spans large projects, like $27 million awarded to Philadelphia International Airport last year, as well as smaller Safe Streets grants for cities like Lancaster, Williamsport, and Allentown.

The DOT has been reviewing its grants in phases, so it’s unclear how other states have fared. Several other infrastructure grants remain in limbo in Pennsylvania, including some that would expand the state’s electric vehicle charging network.

The Vine Street Expressway cap — known as the Chinatown Stitch — lost millions in funding after Congress passed the Big Beautiful Bill, which rescinded federal infrastructure funding for some projects not yet allocated. Only $8.3 million of $159 million originally slated for the Chinatown Stitch had been obligated.

Fetterman’s press secretary said the senator’s staff has reached out to state transit agencies and other stakeholders for answers on other awards.

Since many of the unfrozen grants are awarded directly to municipalities or transit agencies, it wasn’t immediately clear how many had halted progress.

The Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Some projects were so massive that to cancel them outright would have likely prompted bipartisan outrage — if not lawsuits.

Take the largest project on the list of released funds provided by Fetterman’s office: $500 million for the I-83 South Bridge Replacement Project for a bridge spanning parts of Harrisburg and Cumberland County over the Susquehanna River. Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Sen. Bob Casey, and other officials announced the grant at a big event in July 2024 during the heat of the presidential race.

As Trump has slashed federal funding across agencies, Democratic lawmakers in Pennsylvania have tried different tactics to get it restored. Shapiro has filed several lawsuits over halted or canceled federal funding for agriculture programs and schools.

Shapiro’s spokesperson, Manuel Bonder, noted those lawsuits in responding to the news about the infrastructure grants Fetterman helped release.

“Hopefully the Trump Administration has finally learned that there is no tolerance for withholding money owed to the Commonwealth.”

Three SEPTA projects are on the list of released funds, which together total about $47 million. They include an award to improve elevated train accessibility in Philadelphia, money to build two new bus transportation centers in South Philadelphia, and a trolley modernization initiative. The agency had not yet started to draw down federal funding, spokesperson Andrew Busch said.

“We hadn’t received notice that any of them were frozen but it’s an assurance that we know we’ll be able to draw down on those funds when the time comes,” he said.

The beleaguered agency was also awarded a $317 million grant to buy up to 200 new railcars. There’s been no update on that award, though Busch said the agency has been given no indication that it is in danger.

For Fetterman, the announcement underlines a markedly more active few months in the Senate following criticisms this spring that he’d become an absent senator. In April, former staffers and some constituents pointed to missed votes, few public appearances, and lackluster attendance at hearings, along with some concerns about his mental health, to question if he was effectively doing his job. Fetterman survived a stroke in 2022 and was treated for depression in 2023.

In May, he told the New York Times that he felt his openness about being treated for depression had been used against him in criticism about his job performance.

In the last few months, Fetterman has voted against Trump-led spending cuts in the Senate even as he’s made other outreach to the administration and Republican colleagues.

He did an interview with Sen. Katie Britt (R., Ala.) with Semafor earlier this month discussing youth mental health and their bipartisan bill to protect kids online. Last week he attended a kickoff event in Pittsburgh for Sen. Dave McCormick’s innovation summit.

The story was updated to include comments from the Department of Transportation.