U.S. House Republicans moved on Wednesday to cut a $3.3 billion federal program meant to reconnect inner-city neighborhoods that were spliced decades ago by the construction of interstate highways, including Gulfton and Kashmere Gardens in Houston.

The move threatens the future of the Houston project, one of more than 75 across the country, which would create tree-covered sidewalks in the two neighborhoods that are divided by heavily trafficked highways and where community organizers have long complained of limited options for residents to walk safely. 

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee voted along party lines to approve the cuts as part of a $50 billion reduction to a variety of federal programs created under the Biden administration. The committee also approved the creation of a new $250 annual fee for electric vehicles and $100 for hybrids to fund highway repairs — with no fee on gasoline and diesel-powered models.

Ahead of Wednesday's vote, Democrats decried the cuts as targeting working class Americans to finance the extension of tax cuts passed during President Donald Trump's first term.

"This is just the first of many disastrous cuts for our community in this budget reconciliation process in Congress so that Republicans can give to tax cuts to billionaires rather than address the needs of the majority of Americans," U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, who represents the Gulfton neighborhood, said in a statement.

The vote Wednesday begins what is expected to be a months long budgetary process, as Republicans try and slash $1.5 trillion from the federal budget. The GOP-controlled House is not expected to hold a final vote on the spending cuts until late May.

U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Richmond, a member of the transportation committee, cheered the vote in a post on X, saying Republicans would, "do our part to deliver on President Trump’s America First agenda."

The Houston sidewalk project was championed by former U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died earlier this year. The plan was approved for $43 million in funding by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In a report last year, federal transportation officials described sidewalks in Gulfton and Kashmere Gardens as "intermittent or nonexistent," creating "extremely unpleasant and often dangerous conditions for people walking, cycling, rolling, and using transit."

It was unclear Wednesday whether Houston intended to go ahead with the project even without the cuts to federal funds. Mayor John Whitmire has has been critical of sidewalk projects that take away car lanes, saying they make worse the city's already notorious traffic. Last year, he told city officials they could waive a rule requiring the construction of sidewalks in certain residential neighborhoods.

A spokesperson for the mayor said the city was still "examining the changes and the potential impact to city programs."

Other projects included in the federal program to reconnect neighborhoods was a $100 million project to cover up eight miles on Interstate 35 through Austin and a $80 million project to cover freeways and allow easier movement between neighborhoods in Dallas.

View this article in the Houston Chronicle.