Trump seen pressing congress not to fund Hudson rail tunnel

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March 3, 2018 7:12 AM

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump is pressing congressional Republicans to oppose funding for a new rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey, using the power of his office to block a key priority for the region and his Democratic rivals, according to several people with knowledge of his actions.

Trump urged Speaker Paul Ryan this week not to support funding for the $30 billion project, two people familiar with the conversation said.

The president’s decision to weigh in forcefully against the so-called Gateway infrastructure project, which has been one of the top U.S. transportation priorities for years, adds a significant obstacle to getting the project underway in the near future.

Trump’s opposition to the project is in part the result of his belief that it is important to Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, according to one person with knowledge of the president’s thinking.

Trump has told Republicans that it makes no sense to give Schumer something that he covets — funding for the tunnel project — at a time that Schumer is blocking Trump’s nominees and other parts of his agenda, the person said.

The president, who was at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Friday night for a Republican fundraiser, has told members of his party that they should not support initial funding for the project in the spending bill that lawmakers in Washington must pass this month to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, according to the people with knowledge of the conversations.

News of the president’s efforts was first reported by The Washington Post.

The Obama administration had informally agreed that the federal government would split the cost of the first phase of the project with New York and New Jersey. That phase was estimated to cost $11 billion, out of about $30 billion for the entire initiative.

The project would supplement the existing tubes that carry trains under the Hudson River. Those tubes are more than 100 years old and in urgent need of an overhaul after filling with saltwater during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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