President Donald Trump said earlier today that funding for the Gateway Tunnel project is “terminated,” a vague statement that drew alarm from New Jersey politicians keen to see the $18 billion rail project connecting Manhattan and New Jersey completed.
According to the New York Times, it remains unclear what the president meant by his statement, and the White House has not yet clarified whether it means federal funding for the project is cancelled. (The Trump administration had previously announced two weeks ago that funding for the project would be frozen, ostensibly due to a review for “unconstitutional DEI principles,” though many Democrats interpreted it as retribution for the ongoing government shutdown.)
“It’s billions and billions of dollars that [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer has worked 20 years to get,” Trump said at a news conference earlier today. “It’s terminated. Tell him it’s terminated.”
The president’s declaration was quickly panned by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), the Democratic nominee for governor, who has repeatedly tied her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, to Trump’s attacks on Gateway.
“Jack Ciattarelli says that Gateway isn’t a Jersey issue and refuses to stand up to Trump, no matter the cost to New Jersey,” Sherrill said tonight. “I’ll fight tooth and nail to get this funding back and complete this essential infrastructure project for our state, commuters, and economy.”
Ciattarelli, for his part, indicated in a social media post that he, too, disagreed with Trump’s remarks. Once a Trump skeptic, Ciattarelli has been wary of criticizing the president this campaign cycle, and he had declined to directly go against Trump after the October 1 funding freeze announcement.
“New Jersey needs a Governor who has the standing to work with, and when necessary disagree with, the President and advocate for New Jersey’s fair share of federal tax dollars – including the Gateway Tunnel,” Ciattarelli wrote. “This is a critical infrastructure project and I will fight to get it done.”
Sherrill has also said she thinks the state government should be suing the Trump administration over the frozen Gateway funds. Attorney General Matt Platkin has led or joined dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration, but no legal challenge has been filed against the Gateway freeze.
“When I’m governor, I will be taking anyone and everyone to court to unstick this money, because this is money that New Jersey has fought for and that should be dedicated to the tunnel,” she said today.
New Jersey’s Democratic members of Congress, too, have pushed back on Trump’s threats against Gateway. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) said today that the president’s new announcement amounted to “taking a sledgehammer to one of the most important infrastructure projects in the entire country,” and Senators Andy Kim and Cory Booker said in a joint statement that Trump was focused on “punishing perceived enemies” rather than helping Americans.
“This isn’t a Democratic project,” the senators said. “It’s a project that has had broad bipartisan support, including from [Trump’s] own Secretary of Transportation, who called it ‘important’ just days ago. We will fight to keep this funding, we will fight to keep the thousands of union jobs it supports, and we will fight to ensure that the better future that Gateway promises for our entire region is fully realized.”
The Gateway Development Commission, a bi-state agency leading the tunnel’s construction, has enough funds to continue construction for some weeks or months, but it’s unclear exactly when funding might run out. The project was due for completion in 2035.
