Trump threatens to cut funds to New York City if Mamdani wins mayoral race. What does the law say?

Zohran Mamdani seems poised to win the New York mayoral race. And Donald Trump is not happy.

The US president, taking to social media, threatened once again to cut funds for the city if Mamdani, 34, prevails against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Silva.

Trump, meanwhile, has endorsed Cuomo, the long-time Democrat who is running as an independent after losing the primary to Mamdani, in the race. Many think the results of the race in New York, Trump’s hometown, will be a referendum on the president.

But what has Trump said? Can he actually cut funding to New York if Mamdani wins?

Let’s take a closer look.

What did Trump say?

“Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

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He also called Mamdani – a self-described democratic socialist – a communist.

“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home,” Trump wrote. “I don’t want to send, as President, good money after bad.”

Trump in an interview on Sunday again called Mamdani a “communist” and “far worse than a socialist.”

“It’s going to be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there,” Trump said.

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“I’m not a fan of Cuomo … but if it’s going to be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m going to pick the bad Democrat all the time,” Trump said.

Mamdani over the weekend hit back at Trump, saying, “We will continue to receive funding from the federal government, and it’s not because of President Trump’s generosity. That’s because it is the law.”

‘Going to have problems’

Trump in September wrote on X, “He is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great City. Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfil all of his FAKE Communist promises. He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him? This ideology has failed, always, for thousands of years. It will fail again, and that’s guaranteed!”

Trump made the remarks as New York Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of his re-election campaign.

“Donald Trump and his billionaire donors might be able to determine Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo’s actions. But they won’t decide this election. In just over five weeks, we’ll turn the page on the politics of big money and small ideas — and deliver a government every New Yorker can be proud of,” Mamdani had responded.

Can Trump actually cut funding to New York?

He cannot. Under the US Constitution, it is Congress that controls the purse strings of the government and not the president.
This is what is known as the power of the purse. It is the US Congress that passes appropriation bills to determine which cities and states are given federal funds.

The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 also prohibits the government from delaying or withholding spending that Congress has authorised. Thus, it is illegal for the president to withhold money from a city or a state as an act of policy.

However, that hasn’t stopped Trump from trying to do so. The administration has already threatened to withhold billions of dollars from the Gateway programme. The project, which aims to expand train service between New York and New Jersey, is the largest infrastructure programme in the United States.

“I’m cutting the project,” Trump said in October. “The project is going to be dead,” he added. “It is pretty much dead right now.”
Trump’s remarks came amid a long-running feud between the US president and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“The project in New York — it’s billions and billions of dollars that Schumer has worked 20 years to get,” Trump said. “Tell him it’s terminated.”

Trump had delayed the project in his first term. The Biden administration and Schumer had jointly appropriated billions of dollars for the project, which will create tens of thousands of jobs in New York.

The New York Democrat hit back, calling Trump’s actions “vindictive, reckless and foolish.”

“Donald Trump is trying to kill it again, in pure spite and with sheer stupidity,” Schumer said. “It’s petty revenge politics. And who gets hurt? It’s going to screw over hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey commuters.”

However, despite Trump’s threats, the Transportation Department has said there are no plans to kill the project. In fact, work on the project continues apace. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also said the project is important and should move forward fast.

The Trump administration had also paused around $34 million in counterterrorism funding for New York City. However, a federal judge overturned the decision, calling it “arbitrary, capricious and a blatant violation of the law.”

As long as US judges are willing to uphold the law, Trump cannot unilaterally cancel projects to punish cities and states for electing leaders he does not agree with — unless the Supreme Court, many of whose judges have been handpicked by Trump, decides to ignore precedent and side with the administration.

With inputs from agencies