U.S. President Donald Trump speaks upon his arrival at La Guardia Airport in New York for the U.S. Open males’s tennis last, U.S., September 7, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
President Donald Trump took to social media to slam the Gateway Tunnel rail challenge as a “boondoggle” that he mentioned, with out proof, would run billions of {dollars} over funds.
The president’s publish, on his social media website Fact Social, comes as his administration continues to withhold most federal funding for the huge infrastructure challenge. The feedback come days after his administration paid the primary portion of $205 million in reimbursements it owes to the GDC for the challenge, equalling $30 million.
“I am opposed to the future boondoggle known as “Gateway,” in New York/New Jersey, as a result of it’s going to value many BILLIONS OF DOLLARS greater than projected or anticipated,” Trump wrote, providing no proof to assist his declare.
Trump in contrast Gateway, which can change a decaying prepare tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey beneath the Hudson River, to California’s challenge to construct a high-speed prepare between Los Angeles to the Bay Space. He had equally stripped that effort of federal funding final summer season, together with his administration citing the challenge’s ballooning value as certainly one of its causes, in accordance with a broadcast report.
“Gateway will likewise be financially catastrophic for the region unless the work and proper planning is done, NOW, to avoid insurmountable future cost overruns,” Trump wrote. “Please let this statement represent the fact that, under no circumstances, will the federal government be responsible for ANY COST OVERRUNS — NOT ONE DOLLAR.”
The Gateway Improvement Fee — the group main building on the challenge — declined to touch upon Trump’s publish. Spokespeople for Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer didn’t instantly supply remark.
The U.S. Division of Transportation launched a few of the Gateway funding on Friday night in response to a federal decide ordering it, every week earlier, to fund the challenge for a short interval.
The decide’s ruling arose from a go well with introduced by the New York and New Jersey Attorneys Basic, Letitia James and Jennifer Davenport, in search of to unfreeze the funds. The feds needed to start paying the funds regardless of interesting the decide’s choice as a result of the Second Circuit Court docket of Appeals declined to rule final week, as an alternative kicking the choice to a motions panel.
Trump’s administration first froze funding for the challenge in October, citing the necessity to overview its compliance with new guidelines governing contracting with minority- and women-owned companies. It continued withholding the funding by means of Feb. 6, the date by which GDC officers mentioned they had been now not in a position to fund building, which led the fee to close down the challenge’s 5 work websites on that date.
The challenge’s proponents have sounded the alarm concerning the 1,000 jobs misplaced within the instant aftermath of the work stoppage, in addition to broader impacts that would stem from a longer-term pause. These embrace the tunnel shutting down, snarling journey between the Empire and Backyard States, whereas doubtlessly damaging the regional and nationwide economies.
In his publish, Trump additionally sought to dispel stories that he would launch all the Gateway funding if Democratic Congressional leaders, most notably U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, agreed to slap his title on Penn Station.
“The naming of PENN Station (I love Pennsylvania but it is a direct competitor to New York, and ‘eating New York’s lunch!’ to Trump Station, was brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me,” he claimed.
