Blues In Sweet Home Chicago: Why City Is The Biggest Loser Of US Government Shutdown

Last Updated:October 03, 2025, 17:46 IST

Donald Trump’s administration cancelled $8 billion in energy funding, hitting Illinois hardest with $583 million lost.

US President Donald Trump (Image Credit: Reuters)

US President Donald Trump’s administration cancelled nearly $8 billion in energy project funding nationwide, sparking outrage from Democrats who call the move political retaliation. Nowhere is the impact felt more sharply than in Illinois and particularly in the Chicago area which faces a staggering $583 million in losses.

How Chicago Got Hit The Hardest?

According to Democrats in Congress, who released details after the Energy Department declined to do so, Illinois had 33 awards terminated, worth $673 million in total, though about $90 million had already been spent. That leaves $583 million in funding abruptly cancelled.

The single biggest hit is to GTI Energy in Des Plaines, which saw more than $400 million in awards scrapped for carbon capture and methane emissions research. Exelon and its subsidiary Commonwealth Edison also suffered heavy cuts, losing roughly $150 million earmarked for clean grid modernization projects. The University of Illinois lost over $30 million in funding for renewable and carbon capture research while smaller but significant projects involving Cook County, Northwestern University, the American Lung Association and Caterpillar were also eliminated. Taken together, Chicago-area projects represent the largest single loss in the country from Donald Trump’s $8 billion rollback.

What About Other States?

Illinois isn’t alone in seeing projects wiped out. More than 300 projects across the country were cut- with Democrats noting that the majority of cancellations were concentrated in states that voted against Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

The Department of Energy, however, pushed back on that accusation saying that the awards were cancelled because they “did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs, were not economically viable, and would not provide a positive return on investment of taxpayer dollars.”

What Donald Trump Wants?

Ahead of the shutdown, Donald Trump went even further, warning that he would use it to “punish political enemies.” Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth said the cuts are “unsurprising for anyone familiar with how Trump operates” and argued that there is “no legal justification whatsoever” for eliminating the awards.

Illinois State Sen. Bill Cunningham, a Democrat from Chicago who has long worked on energy issues, said the decision undermines the very goals the administration claims to support. He said, “If you’re an advocate of domestic energy production, which the administration claims to be, this would be the last thing you would be doing. This is cutting off domestic energy production.”

Read More

Go to Source