A massive tunnel project that would link New York and New Jersey could run out of money by the end of the week. Developers are suing the Trump administration in an effort go get the funding flowing.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The Trump administration is withholding money for one of the largest public works projects in the country. It’s a train tunnel between New York and New Jersey known as Gateway, and construction could halt this week as the project is expected to run out of money. Now leaders of it are suing the Trump administration. From member station WNYC in New York, Stephen Nessen reports.
STEPHEN NESSEN, BYLINE: For the past three years, construction crews in both states have been working on a new train tunnel that will run under the Hudson River. The current one used by Amtrak and New Jersey Transit was damaged in Superstorm Sandy, and plans to replace it have been discussed since the storm happened in 2012. Now, with massive holes in the ground and nearly $2 billion spent on early construction, all that progress could be lost.
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CHUCK SCHUMER: It is insane.
NESSEN: That’s New York Senator Chuck Schumer speaking last week at a board meeting for the Gateway Development Commission in charge of the $16 billion project. Schumer worked with President Biden to fund 70% of the project through federal grants and loans.
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SCHUMER: This makes absolutely no sense. Yet here we are. There is only one person who terminated Gateway, and there is only one person who could get it back on track, and that is President Trump.
NESSEN: Last October, President Trump announced he was suspending funds for the project. At the time, the Fed said they were reviewing the DEI policies of transportation projects that received federal funds.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: 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 them it’s terminated.
NESSEN: The Gateway Development Commission filed a lawsuit in federal claims court Tuesday, seeking $205 million in overdue congressionally approved funding dating back to October. In their lawsuit, Gateway officials say they complied with every request from the federal government regarding its contracts and policies. Last week, White House spokesperson Kush Desai appeared to blame Chuck Schumer and the Democrats for the stalled project, saying they were, quote, “refusing to negotiate with the administration” in an apparent reference to negotiations over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. Desai said, quote, “there is nothing stopping Democrats from prioritizing the interests of Americans over illegal aliens and getting this project back on track.”
The lawsuit also notes that over 1,000 union workers could lose their job starting Friday if the project doesn’t get the federal money. Many of those workers showed up at last week’s board meeting, wearing construction vests and work gear. Some of them voted for Trump and came with a message for the president.
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RONALD SIROIS: This is not you, Mr. Trump. This is not you. This is not what you’re about. I know that.
NESSEN: Ronald Sirois, an ironworker for 34 years.
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SIROIS: Leave the political stuff aside. Look at the hardworking people that this project will affect.
NESSEN: Gateway officials expect 11,000 union workers employed on the job will be out of work if the funding dries up. Other laborers, like John Mooney, spoke to Trump using the president’s own language.
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JOHN MOONEY: You said you want to make America great. Union workers go home and they can afford to make their communities better.
NESSEN: And as if that wasn’t convincing enough for the president.
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MOONEY: So money talks, [expletive] walks. All right? I know you know that one. So free up the money, get this tube flowing underneath the Hudson.
NESSEN: Lawyers argue if the money isn’t restored by Friday, crews will have to secure the jobsites and store the expensive heavy equipment. They say that alone could cost 15 to $20 million a month. For NPR News, I’m Stephen Nessen in New York.
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