WASHINGTON, D.C. – President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget takes funding for the New Jersey-New York Gateway Tunnel Project budget from $650 million down to $325 million.
New Jersey and New York officials are outraged including New Jersey’s last Republican in Congress.
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“Gateway funding is a necessity for people of my district, not a luxury. Both our regional and U.S. national economies would be devastated should a disaster befall either of the tunnel tubes—already in critical need of repairs,” opined Chris Smith (R, NJ-04) on Tuesday evening. “New Jersey and New York are already working together to help fund Gateway, but all the East Coast—whether it be Maryland or Pennsylvania or Connecticut—could and should pitch in. We need to and will push on every lever to get this done.”
Not everyone is likely to believe that the federal cuts are reckless.
“So, have the regional transit authorities feverishly pursued every cheap and easy fix they can find to increase the throughput of their existing infrastructure. No, they have not,” wrote Reihan Salam of The National Review last March, citing the project’s stunning $11B+ price tag. “And why would they when they can cry poverty instead?”
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