Hours into the first federal government shutdown since 2019, officials in President Donald Trump’s administration are saying that they’ll freeze billions of dollars in funding for several New York City-area transit projects – among them the long-awaited Hudson Gateway Tunnel project connecting Manhattan with New Jersey by rail.
“Roughly $18 billion in New York City infrastructure projects have been put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing based on unconstitutional DEI principles,” Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought said in a pair of posts on social media. “Specifically, the Hudson Tunnel Project and the Second Ave Subway.”
Vought’s post cites “DEI principles” as the justification for the pause, but it seems likely that the move is also related to Congress’s failure to avert a government shutdown. Vought and Trump had warned prior to the shutdown that they would look to cut programs and jobs favored by Democrats, and the two Democratic leaders they’ve been battling with, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both happen to be from New York City.
In justifying the funding freeze, the Department of Transportation swiped at Jeffries and Schumer by name: “Thanks to the Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jefferies [sic] shutdown… USDOT’s review of New York’s unconstitutional practices will take more time,” the department said in a statement. “Without a budget, the Department has been forced to furlough the civil rights staff responsible for conducting this review.”
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment on the announcement, but several other top New Jersey Democrats harshly criticized the decision. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), the Democratic nominee to succeed Murphy this year, said that she would “fight this tooth-and-nail and sue the Trump administration” if she’s elected governor, while Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) called it an attempt at furthering a “fabricated culture war.”
“Any partisan move to stop this project is an attack on New Jersey residents and the economic engine of our region,” Pallone said in a statement. “I, and others in the delegation, will fight this with everything we’ve got.”
The Hudson Gateway project to expand rail capacity on the Northeast Corridor has been underway for years, ever since Gov. Chris Christie cancelled an earlier iteration of the project known as Access to the Region’s Core. The multi-billion dollar project stalled again during Trump’s first term, only to start back up under President Joe Biden, with construction beginning in 2023 and a planned opening date set for 2035.