The Trump administration has sought to pressure Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, to help name New York’s Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after President Trump in exchange for releasing billions of dollars he has frozen for a rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
Top administration officials have told Mr. Schumer in recent weeks that the money would be released if he agreed to name the facilities in Mr. Trump’s honor, according to four people familiar with the private conversations. The people spoke on the on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the private discussions.
The push to rename the station and the airport for Mr. Trump comes as the president, who recently put his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, has been on a renaming spree and has appeared increasingly preoccupied with his legacy.
The Trump administration began withholding funds for the new tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey, a $16 billion project, in October. The agency overseeing its construction moved to halt ongoing work on Friday as money was running out.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Schumer met at the White House last month to discuss the frozen funds.
Though he is the top Senate Democrat, Mr. Schumer has no direct oversight over either transportation hub and rebuffed the request, according to two of the people.
The White House and the Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The conversations were first reported by Punchbowl News.
Mr. Trump, known for affixing his name to New York City high-rises and Atlantic City hotels, has appeared to be undertaking a similar drive on a national scale during his second term. Beyond the Kennedy Center, Mr. Trump and his allies have stamped his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace and public-facing federal projects like investment accounts for American children and TrumpRx, a website that will help Americans buy medication directly from drugmakers.
But withholding money from the tunnel over the names of Penn Station, the busiest train station in the country, would be a significant escalation of the effort to ensure Mr. Trump’s legacy, tying it to a project that would have massive ripple effects across the East Coast.
The project, known as Gateway, sits at the heart of the Northeast Corridor rail route that runs from Boston to Washington and is the most-used passenger line in the United States. It includes the construction of a new two-track tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, which are linked by 116-year-old tunnels in such poor condition that trains are often delayed, creating a bottleneck.
Supporters of the project say the new tunnel would be crucial to avoiding a disruption in rail service around New York City that they believe would have drastic effects on the national economy.
The tunnel has been under construction for more than a year, with the federal government expected to fund about $12 billion of its cost. But the Transportation Department said in October that it would withhold money until the project could be reviewed to make sure that its contracts followed with new federal rules targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
That announcement came in the middle of a 43-day government shutdown, timing that seemed intended to pressure Mr. Schumer and Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House Democratic leader, into making a deal. More recently, White House officials again suggested the fate of the project was tied to negotiations over funding the government.
The Gateway Development Commission, the agency overseeing the construction, sued the federal government this week over $205 million in payments for work on the tunnel. But the halt to construction on Friday could leave roughly 1,000 workers without jobs.
“Work on the Gateway Tunnel is now halted, with federal funding still frozen,” Governor Kathy Hochul, Democrat of New York, said on Friday. “Thousands of jobs on the line. Billions in economic benefits at risk. All because Donald Trump is on a revenge tour.”
Mr. Trump, a former real estate developer who frequently casts himself as a master builder, has also set his sights on redeveloping Dulles Airport in Virginia, which the federal government owns. The Transportation Department said in December that it was soliciting proposals to renovate the facility.
Mr. Schumer could not unilaterally change the airport’s name. Though some House Republicans have advanced a bill that would rename it after Mr. Trump, the measure has yet to advance.
The senator also has little influence over Penn Station, which is owned by Amtrak.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, criticized the Trump administration for threatening the Gateway project. “These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers,” she said in a statement.
Benjamin Oreskes and Grace Ashford contributed reporting.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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