A new federal spending bill contains less money than originally planned for a new Hudson River train tunnel. But lawmakers say the project, known as Gateway, can now begin, despite opposition from President Donald Trump and his transportation secretary.
The House originally included $900 million for Gateway, a series of projects that includes a new twin-bore tunnel under the Hudson River and the replacement of the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River. But those plans were put on hold when Trump threatened to veto the entire spending bill just to block the tunnel project.
Gateway is one of the nation's biggest infrastructure projects, and became urgent after contaminated floodwaters from Hurricane Sandy damaged the century-old tunnel. Amtrak says the tunnel could fail within a decade; currently, it's a source of routine delays for train and transit passengers.
The new bill could make as much as $540 million available — and New Jersey Democrat Bill Pascrell says Gateway doesn’t need Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s approval.
“It is not how I would like to see it done," Pascrell said, criticizing the closed-door, rushed budget writing process. "But this is something we’re going to go after, and the secretary’s not going to turn us away.”
Lawmakers moved the money to Amtrak, which owns the current tunnel, and to local transportation funds for New York and New Jersey, according to Pascrell and Capitol Hill sources.
"We did our homework," Pascrell said.
Gateway has also applied for grants from a $2.9 billion Department of Transportation program.
House GOP leaders were still working behind the scenes to win over votes, and still hadn't posted the bill by late Wednesday afternoon.
Many New York and New Jersey lawmakers said they wanted to see the bill before commenting. An Amtrak spokesman also declined to comment until the bill was available.
But Gateway is a top priority for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who hinted at his approval Tuesday when he called the spending bill deal "a fair compromise."
Government funding runs out at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday.