The future of the Gateway project, which would build two new rail tunnels under the Hudson River, is again in doubt after President Trump said Wednesday he is terminating billions in infrastructure projects for New York. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
The massive project to fund construction of new Hudson River rail tunnels again took center stage in our gubernatorial race Thursday, a day after President Trump said he was terminating New York-based infrastructure projects because of Democratic opposition to a GOP federal budget bill.
Democrats widely believe Trump’s comments in part target the Gateway project, two new rail tunnels to bring trains across the Hudson River and replace 115-year-old tunnels that regularly snarl rail traffic into and out of New York City.
Democrat Mikie Sherrill, a four-term congresswoman hoping to be elected governor on Nov. 4, appeared at the Secaucus train station Thursday to take aim at her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, arguing he would do little to curb Trump on issues like Gateway. Ciattarelli has said on the campaign trail that if elected, his attorney general would not sue Trump over presidential executive orders.
“In order to get good results for people, you have to fight back. You have to be willing to go toe-to-toe. You have to be willing to have your AG take him to court. My opponent has pledged never to take the administration to court. He says he agrees with everything the president does,” Sherrill said.
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Ciattarelli has argued that New Jersey’s chief executive should work with Trump, not in opposition to him. He echoed those thoughts on social media Wednesday following Trump’s remarks.
“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 said. “This is a critical infrastructure project and I will fight to get it done.”
His campaign declined to comment on Sherrill’s Thursday remarks.
Trump, whose administration two weeks ago said it would freeze federal funding for the $16 billion tunnel project and for New York City’s replacement of the 2nd Avenue Subway, said during a press conference Wednesday that numerous “Democrat projects” are being terminated because of the federal budget impasse.
“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, referring to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York).
He said the White House was terminating programs on a “permanent basis.” The U.S. Department of Transportation, which administers the funding, and the Office of Management and Budget, which Trump said made the rescission, did not immediately return requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Gateway Development Commission, a bistate agency tasked with overseeing the Hudson tunnel project, declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for NJ Transit, whose trains run through the existing 115-year-old tunnels into New York.
The mechanism used for the termination is unclear, as is whether Gateway may continue to receive funding.
The Gateway project has topped Sherrill’s list of priorities since before she was elected to Congress in 2018. On Thursday, she stressed the project’s importance to the regional economy and residents’ quality of life.
“This is critical, and it’s critical to the economy of the United States, but it’s also critical to the men and women who commute every single day because without these improvements, it means continuing to miss dinner, to miss soccer games, to not be able to coach teams, to not get time with your family. It’s a quality-of-life issue day after day,” she said.
Laborers International Union of North America Vice President and Eastern Regional Manager Mike Hellstrom, whose members work on the Gateway project and whose union has endorsed Sherrill, on Thursday said already disbursed funds could support the project for about 45 days.
Once that money is spent, the project would face $1 million in daily costs and potential lawsuits over contract violations related to a work stoppage spurred by funding lapses, he said.
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