The $16 billion project to build new Hudson River rail tunnels is at the center of a new spat between President Donald Trump and congressional Democrats. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Donald Trump has been president for five years total, and there is perhaps no decision of his more baffling than the one that may doom the Gateway project.
One billion dollars have already been spent to build new rail tunnels under the Hudson River. The project is vital for the economy of not just the region, but the nation. If it’s not built, we will have to continue relying on the existing, aging tunnels that have a rapidly approaching expiration date, and catastrophe will strike. I’ve yet to find anyone to dispute any of this.
Yet Trump has halted federal funding for the project — money that has already been approved by Congress — and all signs indicate he did so just because he thrives on pissing off Democrats who oppose him.
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The Trump administration froze Gateway funding during last year’s government shutdown, and at the time indicated that tunnel funding was a bargaining chip to get Democrats to vote for a GOP spending bill. But the budget impasse ended in November and yet here we are, with no federal funding flowing to Gateway and zero explanation from the president on why he put the nation’s largest infrastructure project in the middle of his tug-of-war with Democrats.
Last year, officials with the Gateway Development Commission, which oversees the $16 billion project, said they believed the funding freeze would thaw once the shutdown ended, and construction continued, thanks to the commission’s line of credit.
But they said during the commission’s Tuesday meeting that work will stop on Feb. 6 because of the federal freeze.
The notion that Trump is acting based on pure id here led to an embarrassing display at the commission’s meeting, when a parade of union workers and elected officials sucked up to the president because they know an appeal to thought and reason won’t work, but flattery might.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-05), who just six months ago campaigned for governor with an ad showing him boxing with the president, was forced to debase himself Tuesday by stroking Trump’s ego and urging him to “do something historic” by allowing Gateway to continue.
“This is what the art of the deal should be all about. So, Mr. President, let’s make the greatest deal of all time and keep this project moving forward, and make it the best tunnel America — and the world — has ever seen,” Gottheimer said to the commission.
Flattery may not work either, alas. White House spokesman Kush Desai said after the commission meeting that the Gateway project is now a bargaining chip over the current shutdown fight. U.S. Senate Democrats said they won’t vote for a homeland security funding bill without changes to immigration enforcement.
“It’s Chuck Schumer and Democrats who are standing in the way of a deal for the Gateway Tunnel Project by refusing to negotiate with the Trump administration. There is nothing stopping Democrats from prioritizing the interests of Americans over illegal aliens and getting this project back on track,” Desai said.
In other words, yes, the president is holding the new Hudson River tunnels hostage, but for a different reason than he did during last year’s government shutdown. And since Democrats folded then and Trump kept Gateway funds frozen anyway, we can look forward to the project remaining a hostage for any future budget impasse as long as Trump occupies the White House, commuters of both parties be damned. Shameful behavior from the White House.
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