The Biden administration’s successor has taken a long-overdue stand: the federal government warned Chicago it will withhold transit dollars unless the city proves it can keep riders safe after a horrific attack on a CTA train. Washington isn’t bluffing — the Federal Transit Administration demanded a verifiable security plan and warned that federal funding could be at risk if Democratic city leaders do not act. Americans paying taxes deserve to know their money isn’t subsidizing lawlessness on public transportation.
The attack itself was as brutal as it sounds: on November 17, 2025 a 26-year-old woman was doused in a flammable liquid and set on fire aboard a Blue Line train in downtown Chicago, suffering severe burns and nearly dying. By all accounts this was not a simple altercation but a premeditated act that left witnesses and commuters traumatized and angry. Families who ride transit need to feel safe getting to work and church, not fearful of becoming headlines.
The suspected assailant’s record is appalling and predictable — authorities say he has a lengthy criminal history and was on electronic monitoring at the time of the attack, and federal prosecutors have even filed a terrorism charge. This is the natural outcome when repeat offenders are cycled through a broken system without meaningful consequences. Voters must demand accountability from officials who let dangerous people roam free until they harm someone.
Federal Transit Administrator Marc Molinaro put Chicago on notice with a hard deadline to submit an enhanced security plan and increase law enforcement presence on trains and buses, insisting that this kind of violence cannot be accepted as “the cost” of public transit. Good — leverage works when cities refuse to prioritize safety, and taxpayers have a right to insist on measurable results. If the CTA and local leaders truly care about riders, they will stop playing politics and start hiring officers, restoring order, and fixing the policies that enabled this.
Predictably, Governor J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson blasted the federal move as politicizing tragedy, but their outrage rings hollow after years of soft-on-crime policies and cowardly excuses. Blaming Washington while refusing to confront the root problems at home is exactly why citizens are losing faith in Democratic city governance. It’s time for real leadership, not press releases that sound tough while policies remain toothless.
Hardworking Americans deserve transit systems that get them to jobs and back to their families without terror. The federal government using funding leverage to demand accountability is not partisan punishment — it’s citizen protection, and anything less is a dereliction of duty by local officials. If Chicago wants its federal dollars, it should earn them by restoring law and order, removing repeat offenders from the streets, and making the safety of ordinary people the highest priority. The rest is just politics, and the people will remember who stood with them.
