Top NY Democrats vow fight for Gateway tunnel funding after Trump says it is 'terminated'
LIRR trains in the West Side rail yard in 2023, where portions of the Gateway Tunnel construction are set to take place. Credit: Craig Ruttle
WASHINGTON —Top New York Democrats on Thursday vowed to fight for the restoration of funding for the $16 billion Gateway Tunnel project, a day after President Donald Trump declared federal dollars for the massive infrastructure project "terminated."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a senate floor speech, decried Trump's announcement, calling it "petty revenge politics" that would "choke off our economy, and kill good-paying jobs," and Gov. Kathy Hochul signaled the state would challenge any funding halt in the courts.
"We will fight the President on this in every way to preserve this crucial, vital infrastructure project, crucial and vital to New York, New Jersey, the Northeast economy and the whole American economy," Schumer said.
Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, said the yearslong project to build a new rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey via the Hudson River would be among the "Democrat projects" nixed by his administration during the ongoing federal government shutdown.
"The project in Manhattan, [the] project in New York, it's billions and billions of dollars that Schumer has worked 20 years to get. It's terminated. Tell him it’s terminated," Trump said.
Despite Trump's remarks, work at the Hudson Yards worksite in Manhattan continued on Thursday, according to footage captured by CBS News. A Department of Transportation official told Politico the agency has no plans to kill funding for the tunnel or the Second Avenue Subway extension in Manhattan, two recent targets of the Trump Administration.
Earlier in the week the president said he planned to unveil a list of "Democrat projects" on Friday that would be canceled in response to the funding impasse.
Congressional Democrats and Republicans have failed to pass a short-term spending bill to reopen the federal government, which has been shut down since Oct. 1. Democrats have been withholding their support from a Trump-backed spending bill in an effort to get Republicans to agree to an extension on soon-to-expire health care subsidies they contend will raise insurance premiums for millions of Americans if not renewed.
The White House Office of Management and Budget and Department of Transportation did not return requests for comment on whether the Gateway project is on the list of projects set to be axed by Trump on Friday.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in a statement said "the Gateway project has been in the works long before President Donald Trump and will serve New Yorkers long after President Donald Trump."
She noted that in May she received assurances from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy during a senate appropriations subcommittee hearing that he did not have plans to cancel funding for the Gateway project.
Hochul, in a Wednesday night interview with MSNBC, signaled the state is prepared to sue should funding be withheld, telling interviewer Chris Hayes, "We'll always win in court."
"The Gateway Tunnel, this and the Second Avenue Subway have been talked about for decades," Hochul said. "We finally get them over the finish line — $18 billion worth of projects and 15,000 union jobs, good paying union jobs — and they don't give a damn about them."
On the first day of the government shutdown, Trump’s chief budget director Russell Vought announced in a social media post that $18 billion in federal funding for Gateway and the Second Avenue Subway extension would be withheld citing "unconstitutional DEI principles," referring to the administration’s stance against diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The Gateway project, which looks to provide an alternative to the century-old North River Tunnel that was badly damaged during Superstorm Sandy, is being funded by a mix of local and federal dollars, including funding from New York, New Jersey and regional transit authorities.
The Gateway Development Commission, which oversees the project, in an email to Newsday declined to comment on the status of the project's funding.
Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.
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