Elected officials joined with laborers and union leaders today called on President Donald Trump (R) for the restoration of federal funding for the Hudson Tunnels portion of the Gateway project.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
Officials described Trump’s decision as purely political, and also condemned rumors that the president cut funding to try and make a deal to rename Newark Penn Station in New York City or Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. after himself.
U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) began his remarks at the Weehawken press conference by describing the cuts by the “wannabe king” Trump as “petty, personal, vindictive, cruel” and holding hostage “one of the most important infrastructure projects of the last century.”
“We’ve got some of the hardest working people in the tri-state area who are now having their jobs sabotaged, having a project undermined by this petty vindictiveness of a president who seems to want his name on everything, who doesn’t give a damn about the working people of New Jersey and the commuters who are depending on this project,” Booker exclaimed.
“What he’s doing right now by holding this project hostage is elevating project costs, putting over a thousand people out of work immediately, threatening over 90,000 peoples jobs, and undermining the daily commute of hundreds of thousands of Americans who continue to be frustrated by the infrastructure of this region.”
Booker continued that Gateway is a necessary investment that will guarantee transit arteries flow smoothly and ensure safety for the tens of millions of people that rely on it through the Northeast Corridor, not just New York and New Jersey.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) started by underscoring how she has sued the president to restore funding, reemploy the roughly 1,000 laid off workers, and bring back the $20 billion economic output that would be generated when the project is completed.
She also questioned why Trump would punish the region responsible for 20 percent of the country’s economy.
“Every time Trump gets involved, our working men and women suffer. You’re seeing it here today, because you’re seeing a president who has moved the goalposts again and again and again for the thousands of people that are employed on this project who are going to have to go home today and tell their families that they don’t have a job on this site because the President of the United States has decided to play politics with their job,” she declared.
“Has decided to play politics with our economy, has decided that politics are more important to him than the working men and women of this country. And I’m telling you here in New Jersey, we are not going to stand for it.”
U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez (D-8) said Booker has been a leader on this issue for years, from the inception of this project to the present day, continuing that the presser shouldn’t be necessary as the project has met every major milestone on time and on budget.
“It has thousands of good-paying union jobs, who are showing up every day and driving the project forward. We all know what should be obvious to anyone, this is bulls***,” he said frankly.
” … The president is playing political games, with not just the future of our infrastructure in the region, but the men and women who are standing here, their jobs, their livelihood, their ability to put food on their family’s tables. For what reason? Because he has a vendetta against New York and New Jersey representatives? Because he wants to put his name on Penn Station? It’s insane.”
Additionally, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) had some ideas about what landmarks could be christened in Trump’s name.
“If he wants something name for him, I’ve got lots of landfills in Middlesex or Monmouth County I represent, or maybe a Superfund site,” he stated.
In addition to the elected officials, members of the Gateway Development Commission and the Regional Plan Association, as well as members and leaders from labor unions including the Teamsters, Carpenters, Ironworkers, IBEW, and LiUNA, also showed their support for the infrastructure project.
Teamsters Local 560 President Joseph DiPalma, Laborers 472 Representative Robert Campos, and Hudson County Buildings and Construction Trades representative Tom Hurley emphasized the importance of the project to their workers and the region.
“For the people of 560, and organized labor throughout New Jersey and New York, Gateway represents thousands of community jobs and sustain families, strengthens communities, and sends the wrong message to working men and women,” DiPalma stated.
“The impact goes far beyond labor. Millions of residents rely on this corridor every day. But at the Gateway Tunnel, delays increase, costs rise, and businesses suffer… Failing to address this with modern, reliable infrastructure threatens long-term economic stability for both sides of this tunnel… We urge President Trump to reverse this course, restore funding, and do what’s right for workers, residents, and the regional economy.”
During a media scrum afterwards, Booker told HCV that in addition to the lawsuits, he is fighting in the Senate and House of Representatives to right this wrong.
“We’re fighting in Congress because this is a congressionally appropriated project that legally should not be undermined by the president. We’re hoping that we can see more Republican step up and say don’t do this, you’re literally adding millions of dollars to a project cost, throwing hundreds if not thousands of people out of work,” he began.
“So we’re going to try to fight within Congress as well and then we’re going to try to do everything we can to persuade a president, to show him, to tell him that he can’t do this. So there’s not a line of effort that we’re not going to be putting forward to get this project going.”
In response to questions about folding to Trump’s desires and renaming something after him, Booker asserted this situation is “just the worst form of sabotage I’ve seen from a president in my lifetime.”
This press conference came after the Gateway Development Commission and New Jersey and New York filed lawsuits against the Trump administration over the withheld funding earlier this week.
The commission announced on Tuesday that the were suing the Trump Administration in federal court in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. withholding of $205 million in payments for work on the tunnels.
That lawsuit alleges that the DOT breached grant and loan agreements by freezing the funds, raising concerns over the political nature of Trump’s cuts to what he sees as a “Democratic program.”
At a press conference at Newark Penn Station on Wednesday, Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced that New Jersey and New York are suing the Trump Administration as well for allegedly illegally withholding $15 billion in Gateway funding.
Others in attendance today included U.S. Reps., Josh Gottheimer (D-5), Nellie Pou (D-9), and LaMonica McIver (D-10), as well as Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner, West New York Mayor Albio Sires, and Assemblymen Gabriel Rodriguez, and Larry Wainstein (both D-33).
Just before the end of the business day Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Jeannette A. Vargas issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump White House from withholding Gateway funding until further notice.
“As the court correctly recognized, the Trump Administration’s attempts to freeze funding for the Gateway Tunnel project are plainly illegal, and they would cause grave harm to New Jersey and New York. We are grateful that the court agreed to put a halt to this unlawful freeze on this emergency basis,” Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement.
“The Trump Administration must drop this campaign of political retribution immediately and must allow work on this vital infrastructure project to continue. If not, I pledge to keep fighting in court on behalf of all New Jerseyans.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect that U.S. District Court Judge Jeannette A. Vargas issued a temporary restraining order against the President Donald Trump (R) administration on Friday evening.
 for the restoration of Gateway funding.){kind=link}