President Donald Trump said on October 15 that federal funds for one of the most critical passenger rail projects in the country had been “terminated.” 

The Gateway Project has been called “the most urgent infrastructure project in America,” building new tunnels beneath the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey, and rebuilding a 115-year-old one that was damaged in 2012 by Superstorm Sandy. The Northeast Corridor in this area features trains from both Amtrak and NJ Transit, and when completed in 2035, will carry 200,000 passengers per day.
Trump has had it out for the Gateway Project since his first term, when he tried to strip funding from the project, despite bipartisan support and even his own transportation secretary calling it “an absolute priority.” This time around, Trump is using the weeks-old government shutdown as a chance to rip away the $16 billion funding for the project. However, it’s unclear what authority Trump has to take the money back. The day after he announced that the funding was “terminated,” work was still taking place on the tunnels, and officials said they could keep going for the time being with state funds. Officials in New York and New Jersey were quick to criticize the decision. 

“It’s petty revenge politics that would screw hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey commuters, choke off our economy and kill good-paying jobs,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York). “It’s vindictive, reckless and foolish.” 

—Justin Franz