After previously saying that he was putting $18 billion in federal funding for New York’s Hudson River Gateway Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway projects on hold, President Trump has told reporters at the White House that the Gateway Tunnel project is being terminated. While Trump frequently reverses himself, it is not clear whether a campaign by tunnel project proponents to try to get him to reverse his decision would be effective.
Trump said that the reason for terminating the project was the current government shutdown. Trump previously had said that during the shutdown he would be killing various projects favored by Democrats. The New York Times reported that so far more than $28 billion has been killed from Democratic states compared with $738 million in Republican-controlled Congressional Districts.
The Gateway Tunnel project, with a $16 billion price tag, was due to receive more than $11 billion in funding from the federal government.
“Russell Vought (Trump’s head of the White House Office of Management and Budget) is really terminating tremendous numbers of Democrat projects,” Trump said. “The project in New York … it’s billions and billions of dollars that [Sen. Chuck] Schumer has worked 20 years to get. It’s terminated. Tell him it’s terminated.”
Among the elements of the Gateway Tunnel project were building nine miles of new track between New York and New Jersey and building a new tunnel with two tubes running under the Hudson River between the two states. The tunnel project also involved rehabilitating the existing 115-year-old tunnel under the Hudson that still is in use but was severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy.
The Gateway Tunnel project has been expected to create 95,000 jobs during construction, generate $19.8 billion in economic activity during construction and, when completed, serve 200,000 rail passengers every day.
Senate Minority Leader Schumer, in an online posting, described what Trump is doing as “petty revenge politics that would screw hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey commuters, choke off our economy, and kill good-paying jobs. It’s vindictive, reckless, and foolish.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, in an interview on MSNBC said, “This is not sticking it to New York. This is the Northeastern corridor. To make sure that our tunnels are safe, they were damaged by Superstorm Sandy. They’re over 100 years old. We need to replace them because if this system of transportation collapses, the Northeastern economy and the economy of the country collapses. So, why be so shortsighted?”
Separately, Hochul today said that the Trump administration plans to deny nearly 3 million New Yorkers who rely on the federally-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) access to their food benefits beginning Nov. 1. It would be part of a nationwide cut in SNAP funding.
In New York’s 16th Congressional District represented by Democratic Congressman George Latimer 82,509 people would lose access to food through SNAP, according to Hochul’s office. In New York’s 17th Congressional District represented by Republican Congressman Mike Lawler 66,704 people would lose SNAP benefits.
Hochul said she is calling on Washington Republicans to stop withholding this food assistance and prevent families across New York, and America, from going hungry.
“I’m outraged that Washington Republicans are deliberately withholding federal funding from millions of New Yorkers who rely on SNAP to put food on the table,” Hochul said. “This is a cruel, senseless and politically motivated punishment inflicted by the Trump Administration that they have the power to avoid. Lives depend on this, and Washington Republicans need to stop playing games. Release this federal funding right now and let states get this money to families to ensure they don’t go hungry.”
