Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced Thursday that the government is withholding millions in federal funding to New York, due to concerns that it is violating regulations on granting trucking licenses to noncitizens.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is withholding $73.5 million in highway funding due to accusations that New York failed to revoke illegally issued nondomiciled commercial learner’s permits and commercial driver’s licenses, according to Duffy. The development comes after Duffy threatened in December 2025 to revoke the funding if Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) did not address the Trump administration’s concerns.
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“I promised the American people I would hold any state leader accountable for failing to keep them safe from unvetted, unqualified foreign drivers,” Duffy said in a statement. “I’m delivering on that promise today by refusing to fund Governor Hochul’s dangerous, anti-American policies.”
The secretary said the funding represents 4% of New York’s National Highway Performance Program and Surface Transportation Program Block Grant funds.
A spokesperson for Hochul vowed to fight back against Duffy’s action in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“These charges are a baseless attempt to attack blue states, because as everyone knows New York simply follows federally-issued rules when issuing commercial drivers licenses, something that even the Trump Administration has acknowledged,” the spokesperson said. “This continues a year long pattern of Secretary Duffy threatening to withhold money that keeps our roads, subways, and other infrastructure safe for New Yorkers. We will fight back, and once again we will win.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, whose 150,000 members operate around 240,000 heavy-duty trucks, praised Duffy’s action in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“The days of exploiting cheap labor on the basis of false ‘driver shortage’ claims are over,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said. “For too long, loopholes in this program have allowed unqualified drivers onto our highways, putting professional truckers and the motoring public at risk. These enforcement actions will remove bad actors from the road and restore accountability to the system. Today’s action is an important step toward safer highways and a stronger, more professional trucking industry.”
FMCSA officials said last year that an audit of nationwide CDLs granted to foreign drivers found that out of 200 sampled records of CDLs granted by New York, 107 were issued in violation of federal law. In New York, the DMV’s systems default to issuing eight-year CDLs to foreign drivers, regardless of when their legal statuses expire, according to Duffy’s office. DOT officials have also said the state accepted expired documents to approve driver’s licenses.
“What we uncovered in New York is not an administrative oversight,” FMCSA Administrator Derek Barrs said. “It’s a systematically, grossly unacceptable deviation from a federal safety regulation that has been on the books for a long period of time.”
New York officials have pushed back against the audit’s findings.
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“Here is the truth: Commercial Drivers Licenses are regulated by the Federal Government, and New York State DMV has, and will continue to, comply with federal rules,” NYS DMV spokesman Walter McClure said in December. “Every CDL we issue is subject to verification of an applicant’s lawful status through federally-issued documents reviewed in accordance with federal regulations. This is just another stunt from Secretary Duffy, and it does nothing to keep our roads safer. We will review USDOT’s letter and respond accordingly.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Hochul’s office for comment.
