In June 2019, in Bloomberg, Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson said the US Department of Transportation was holding up the project by refusing to commit federal funds. Anderson pointed out that the department needed to complete an environmental review.

The article quoted Anderson's prepared statement: “We need to get this done and stop the unnecessary red tape. Period.”

The Trump administration has said it couldn't devote too much money on the Gateway Project at the expense of other projects. But Bloomberg reported, “The rail link under the Hudson River is critical for commuters on New Jersey Transit and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor, the busiest and most profitable US route, with over 800,000 daily passengers.”

“The Gateway Program isn't just about NY and NJ. It's about the entire national economy with 20% of the country's GDP reliant on the region served by the Northeast Corridor,” said both governors in their statement. “In the absence of leadership in Washington, we remain committed to moving ahead with this profoundly urgent infrastructure project.”

On Monday, the White House and congressional representatives agreed upon a two-year budget that would raise spending caps, thus avoid the US defaulting on loans. It would lift the government's debt ceiling. On July 22, The New York Times reported the agreement would raise spending by $320 billion and would allow the government to keep borrowing for two more years.

The newspaper noted that the federal debt has grown to $22 trillion, a 23% increase from the year before. It reported that the national debt grew by more than $2 trillion because of the 10-year, $1.5 trillion tax cuts and large spending increases. The New York Times stated Trump's tax cuts have not paid for themselves as administration officials had projected. “Instead they have reduced individual and corporate tax revenues by 8% per year, compared to what budget forecasters expected before the cuts were passed into law.”

The New York Times also reported that with higher costs of paying interest on the larger national debt, the tax cuts are projected to add nearly $400 billion to the nation debt during the fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

Amidst these mounting deficit figures, how much federal money will be allocated to the Gateway Project instead of other priorities which Trump has promised to his core supporters remains to be seen.