Delaware lawmakers scrap Legislative Hall expansion plan after state hit with $38 million in federal health care cuts

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This story was supported by a statehouse coverage grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Delaware lawmakers are halting an expansion project at Legislative Hall in Dover after suffering millions of dollars in federal funding freezes from the Trump administration, including $38 million in health care dollars last week.

Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania joined a coalition of states and Washington, D.C. in suing the Trump administration this week after they were notified about the cuts.

In a joint statement, the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate and the co-chairs of the Joint Finance Committee said they were dropping the project updating the state Capitol building for the time being.

“In the coming months, lawmakers will be faced with tough decisions about how to balance our annual budget. We are committed to funding critical programs that benefit our students, our seniors, our veterans, and every day families,” the statement said. “We hope to revisit the expansion project soon.”

The project’s total estimated cost in a 2023 feasibility study was $122 million, but current predictions are about 3% higher than that. The project got $10 million of funding in this fiscal year’s budget; and the Office of Management and Budget had requested $50 million for fiscal year 2026, which included part of the Legislative Hall expansion and part of constructing the adjacent parking garage and connecting tunnel. The parking garage, which lawmakers said has already been funded, is still expected to move forward. Construction is set to begin in July without the tunnel. The parking garage was estimated to have cost $33 million at the February meeting of the Legislative Building Committee.

Joint Finance Co-Chair Kim Williams, D-Wilmington, said the Trump administration’s freezes on funding that Congress had already appropriated to Delaware were causing havoc on the General Assembly’s ability to create a state budget. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services clawed back tens of millions in pandemic-related funding that Congress had given the state. Those dollars supported 62 state employee positions and affected more than 100 programs, including those providing health care, mental health care and substance use services.

“I know the state’s doing everything they can to figure this out,” she said. “It’s just frustrating to see what this does to people’s lives, people who are just working, who love their job, who are trying to support their family and go to work, do a good job.”

John Flaherty, a board member with Delaware Coalition for Open Government, praised the move to pause the expansion, which he has opposed as a waste of money. He has also criticized the tunnel plan, which would allow lawmakers to travel from their restricted parking area to inside Legislative Hall without encountering members of the public.

“I think they’re taking a second look and to their credit, and to the governor’s credit, they’re taking a real hard look at this immense appropriation of money, and I think in light of what’s happening nationally, they have decided to redirect these resources to more needy issues here locally, here in the state of Delaware,” he said.

Delaware Congresswoman Sarah McBride is expressing her opposition to cuts at HHS and the termination of thousands of employees. Those include all employees who administer the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, a federal program helping people afford their utility bills. Delaware lawmakers introduced a package of energy bills, including one that puts more state funding into Delaware’s LIHEAP program after angry Delmarva customers began complaining earlier this year about high utility bills.