Trump, taking to his Truth Social platform on Monday afternoon, posted a long screed voicing his opposition to the so-called Gateway tunnel project between New York and New Jersey, saying it would be financially catastrophic for the region. He then turned his attention to the Penn Station matter.
The $16 billion Gateway Tunnel project would replace a 116-year-old train tunnel that serves 200,000 commuters between New York and New Jersey each weekday. The two tubes, which carries Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains, are crumbling after a century-plus of use and severe damage from 2012's Superstorm Sandy. New York and New Jersey Attorneys General Letitia James and Jennifer Davenport, respectively, filed the states' Feb. 3 lawsuit
In the Feb. 2 suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, lawyers for the GDC argue that Trump's U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) is in breach of a contract the agency inked with GDC under former President Biden's administration. Under the accord, USDOT committed to funding the Gateway tunnel to the tune of $15 billion representing 90% of the $16 billion project through a series of federal grants.
Schumer's office said he urged Trump to release federal funding for the $16 billion Gateway tunnel during the meeting, which they said the president requested. Trump last year said he was withholding federal funding from the massive public works project - which includes the construction of new rail tunnels under the Hudson River -after Democrats picked a government shutdown fight.
