POTUS 47 on Oct. 15 said that $16 billion in federal funding for the project to build the New York/New Jersey Hudson Tunnel under the Hudson River, a key component of the Gateway Program, has been “terminated.” His pronouncement, reported by The New York Times, came two weeks after its federal funding was suspended at the start of the government shutdown. Washington, D.C.-based Politico has debunked that pronouncement.
The Times reported that POTUS 47 “abruptly” announced this during a White House press conference that addressed a variety of issues. The Times went on to report that POTUS 47 took aim at Sen. Chuck Shumer (D-N.Y.) with the statement, “It’s billions and billions of dollars that Schumer has worked 20 years to get. Tell him it’s terminated.”
The Times also reported Schumer’s response to the news from POTUS 47. “Gateway is the most important infrastructure project in America—period. [POTUS 47] trying to kill it again is pure spite and stupidity. It’s petty revenge politics that would screw hundreds of thousands New York and New Jersey commuters, choke off our economy and kill good-paying jobs … [It’s] vindictive, reckless and foolish.”
“It was not immediately clear what [POTUS 47] meant and whether Gateway—as well as another major infrastructure project, [Phase 2] of the Second Avenue Subway—had been stripped of federal funding,” The Times noted. “Both projects depend heavily on federal grants and were both explicitly mentioned in the announcement of the funding pause two weeks ago … Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said the Administration’s decision hurts roughly 15,000 construction jobs supported by both projects and threatens the broader region and beyond. ‘If this system of transportation collapses, the Northeastern economy and the economy of the country collapses, so why be so shortsighted?’ Governor Hochul said in an interview on MSNBC … The White House referred questions to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.”
“Massive NY tunnel and subway projects still alive, despite [POTUS 47] claims,” Politico reported Oct. 16. “USDOT has no plans to end the multibillion-dollar Gateway tunnel and Second Avenue Subway projects, an Administration official told Politico a day after the President said they had been ‘terminated.’ [POTUS 47’s] remarks also appeared to contradict Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s comments last week that the projects are ‘important’ and should ‘move forward fast.’ The White House and DOT did not respond to a request for comment. Stephen Sigmund, a spokesperson for the Gateway Development Commission, and Lucas Bejarano, an MTA spokesperson, declined to comment. As of Thursday (Oct. 16) morning, the Gateway project team has not gotten new communication from the Administration, and construction work on the tunnel continues.”
POTUS 47 has also targeted Chicago’s mass transit systems, CTA and Metra, for funding termination.
Gateway Development Commission CEO Tom Prendergast is keynote speaker at Railway Age’s Next-Gen Rail Systems conference, Jersey City, N.J. Oct. 29-31.
Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono contributed to this story.
