Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rejected an offer from President Trump last month to release $16 billion in federal funds for the Gateway tunnel project in exchange for backing the renaming of New York’s Penn Station and Washington’s Dulles International Airport after him.
Schumer reportedly told the president that he didn’t have the power to deliver on the unusual request, according to CNN.
The Trump administration made the ask as part of continuing talks to release funds earmarked for the massive Hudson River rail tunnel project that would connect New York and New Jersey, a source with knowledge of the discussion told The Post.
Schumer huddled with Trump at the White House on Jan. 15 to discuss the Gateway tunnel project. It’s unclear if the president made the offer to the senator during that meeting.
The Senate minority leader “emphasized the urgent need to promptly release the already-secured funds for the Gateway Program — the most important infrastructure project in the nation employing thousands of workers and vital to New York and the entire Northeast economy” during the meeting, his office said at the time.
Trump froze a combined $18 billion in funding for the Gateway tunnel and New York’s Second Avenue subway project last October – on the first day of the Schumer-led government shutdown, during which Democrats held up federal funding for a record 43 days.
New York, New Jersey and the Gateway Development Commission are suing the Trump administration over the freeze, arguing the withholding of the funds is unlawful and a breach of contract.
The funds were approved by the federal government in 2021 and construction on the tunnel began in 2023. It’s not expected to be completed until 2035.
A line of credit used to keep work going on the tunnel amid the funding freeze will run dry on Friday and construction will come to a total halt, according to the New Jersey Monitor.
“It is critical to the region, it’s critical to jobs, it’s critical to the economy. That’s why we’re fighting,” New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill told reporters Wednesday. “Let me be clear: This is a political decision by the president to cancel money that’s already in a pot being ready to be put to work.”
The prospect of renaming Penn Station after Trump first arose last April, when the Department of Transportation took over a project to renovate the transit hub and New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul indicated she’d be fine calling it “Trump Station” when completed.
House Republicans have also previously introduced legislation that would rename Northern Virginia’s Washington Dulles International Airport to Donald J. Trump International Airport.
The Post has reached out to the White House and Schumer’s office for comment.
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