“The times have significantly changed and we need to be alert to it and aware of it,” said Jim Aloisi, a former state transportation secretary. “The Trump administration is not going to be particularly interested in doing favors for our congressional delegation or our governor,” though it might be more sympathetic to businesses in the state, he said.
Aloisi said Massachusetts should consider planning for alternate sources of funding, such as adding tolls to infrastructure projects.
Both Governor Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu were in Washington, D.C., last week to discuss federal funding with officials there. (They also attended a White House celebration for the 2024 champion Boston Celtics.)
Leaving a meeting with Healey on Capitol Hill, Representative Stephen Lynch of Boston warned that the state has federal money “that remains unencumbered . . . the checks haven’t been cashed.”
“We don’t want it in limbo,” Lynch said, warning that the Trump administration “could try to retrench, pull back money.”
In a brief interview, Healey said only that “I certainly hope they don’t” try to take back any money already tagged for Massachusetts.
Her administration is already moving “as fast as we possibly can” to make sure it completes federally funded efforts before the new Trump presidency ushers in “some risks,” said Quentin Palfrey, the state’s director of federal funds and infrastructure, a new office Healey established to help Massachusetts compete for federal dollars. Palfrey said that under Healey, the state has secured $9 billion from the federal government through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS & Science Act, signature spending efforts by President Biden.
While it’s too early to predict with certainty, some in Massachusetts fear the state won’t see funding on that scale again — particularly with Elon Musk, whom Trump has appointed to lead a new advisory panel, aiming to slash $2 trillion in federal spending.
“There’s a transition at the federal level, and that obviously means that we need to move these projects forward quickly,” Palfrey said. “We are working very hard to lock in the gains that we’ve made.”
In Boston, Wu’s ambitious climate agenda has relied on federal grants that have supported everything from the purchase of electric school buses to workforce training. A spokesperson for Wu said the city is reviewing the status of each federal grant and “can’t predict exactly how federal funding may change” under Trump.
Currently, billions of dollars flow to Massachusetts from Washington every year for programs ranging from Medicaid to food stamps.
The bulk of federal money flows to states and cities in an automatic system based on complex formulas set by Congress, a process that would be difficult to alter without approval by lawmakers. Those include pots such as highway funds that are essential to red and blue states alike, and Congress would be unlikely to cut them off.
It’s discretionary funding, dollars awarded based on competitive grants, that appear most at risk for Massachusetts under a Trump presidency. Few expect government run by Trump to award federal money dollars for climate change adaptations at the scale that Biden has, for example.
Federal funds are far too important to go without, said Doug Howgate, president of the watchdog group Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.
“The order of magnitude between state and federal resources is so large that it’s important for people to recognize that Massachusetts simply does not have the capacity to replace federal dollars,” Howgate said.
Still, he said, the state should prepare for a new era.
“When administrations change, priorities change,” he said. “Never assume that cash is in hand until cash is in hand. Never assume that something that seems like a sure thing is necessarily a sure thing.”
One particularly prominent project reliant on federal funds: replacing the aging Cape Cod bridges. State officials say they have already secured more than $1.71 billion in federal funding for the project, and members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation believe hard-fought funding for the first bridge is secure, even though the project is years from completion.
“There is no anticipation that these funds are in jeopardy,” said Representative Bill Keating, who represents the Cape. And should anything threaten that funding, Massachusetts Democrats are prepared to fight for it, they said.
“The law is clear that the money has been allocated and encumbered and effectively is gone,” Senator Elizabeth Warren told the Globe earlier this month. “I recognize that Donald Trump does not believe that laws apply to him, but we intend to make sure that they do.”
Still, for some, there can be no guarantees under a Trump administration. Aloisi pointed out that funding for projects such as the bridges works through reimbursement — paying the state back for funds spent on a project, rather than providing the cash upfront — raising further uncertainty.
“It’s not like, ‘Here’s a check!’ It’s like, no, you do the work and then we reimburse you,” Aloisi said. It wouldn’t happen without controversy, but “they could easily say, we’re taking reassessment of grants now,” Aloisi added.
The incoming Trump administration has also created uncertainty for projects that still need funding, including the second Cape bridge.
David Tamasi, a Cape Cod native and longtime Republican lobbyist with Chartwell Strategy Group, said that despite the change in administration, “the sky is not falling” for Massachusetts. The narrow split in the House will mean Republicans and Democrats have to work together on spending bills, he predicted.
Still, securing money for the Cape Cod bridge project will likely be more complicated under a Trump administration than it was with Biden in the White House.
“It doesn’t mean that it can’t happen,” Tamasi said. “But that’s going to require skillful advocacy from the delegation and assorted stakeholders.”
Elsewhere in the state, State Senator Joanne Comerford has been pushing for years to restore rail service between Boston, Greenfield, and North Adams, along the northern edge of Massachusetts, where trains carried passengers until the mid-20th century.
The effort is still in early stages, but Comerford acknowledged that obtaining any necessary federal funds will be “more complicated, “because we’ll have a Trump administration.”
“I would have to be asleep to not be concerned,” Comerford said. Still, she said, “we don’t need an immediate turn. We can wait out an unfriendly administration. We can think about incremental approaches.”
In Boston, Gail Latimore, executive director of the Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation, said her community organization is heavily reliant on federal dollars, which has her worried.
She said she is still waiting to hear back about a federal grant that would support green retrofits for affordable housing.
“It’s a lot of work that is in jeopardy if you do have an administration that doesn’t believe in [climate change],” Latimore said. Her organization might be forced to look more toward state, city, or philanthropic resources, she said.
Perhaps the only guarantee: Expect changes when Trump takes office.
“All we can do right now is kind of play the hand we have,” Howgate said. And, he added with a laugh, “make sure we have a backup plan.”
Tal Kopan and Jim Puzzanghera of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Emma Platoff can be reached at emma.platoff@globe.com. Follow her @emmaplatoff.
Source: politics.einnews.com…
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