By Hank Russell
Governor Kathy Hochul blasted the Trump administration for halting funding for a multibillion-dollar tunnel repair project that connects train stations in New Jersey and New York.
Hochul called for the federal government to resume $16 billion in funding for the Gateway Tunnel project, in which two of the tubes connecting the Newark train station with Penn Station in Manhattan would be repaired. Our Town New York reported that, if the Gateway Development Commission does not get the money by February 6, the project will be shut down.
According to the Commission, the project consists of building nine new miles of passenger rail track between the two states,plus boring almost five miles of tunnel to construct a new, two-tube tunnel beneath the Hudson River. In addition, the North River Tunnel — which was first built 110 years ago — will be rehabilitated. The tunnel’s age was a source of chronic delays for daily passengers and its condition was only worsened by flood damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in September 2012.
Reuters reported that Trump stopped funding the project in October. Two months later, the U.S. Transportation Department accused Gateway of violating the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program’s laws, which is supposed to benefit small business owners who are “socially or economically disadvantaged.” A court ruled that women and minority owners did not fall into that category.
Trump blamed U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer for “holding up” the project, reported the New York Times, while Schumer said shutting down Gateway “makes absolutely no sense,” adding. “There is only one person who terminated Gateway and only one person who can get it back on track,” referring to Trump.
Hochul called the rescinding of the funding “just the latest collateral damage of Donald Trump’s vindictive quest to hurt New Yorkers no matter the cost. The stakes are enormous: hundreds of thousands of daily commuters, 10,000 union jobs and billions of dollars in economic benefits all now imperiled by Donald Trump’s attempts to rip away infrastructure funding from New York.”
“Make no mistake, the Gateway Tunnel is vital to the economy of this state and the entire region, and I will fight like hell to ensure it gets built,” Hochul added.
Long Island Life & Politics reached out to the Trump administration for a comment. “It’s Chuck Schumer and [the] Democrats who are standing in the way of a deal for the Gateway Tunnel Project by refusing to negotiate with the Trump administration,” said White House spokesperson Kush Desai. “There is nothing stopping Democrats from prioritizing the interests of Americans over illegal aliens.”