NY and NJ Sign Joint Legislation to Advance Gateway Project

NEW YORK CITY—“The current Hudson River train tunnels are in dire condition, and it’s only a matter of time before one or both tubes fail,” said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy in a joint statement. “Building the new Hudson Tunnel Project is the single most important infrastructure project in our nation, but the Trump administration has abdicated its responsibility by failing to pay their fair share to replace this federally owned asset.”

The new legislation signed by both governors creates the Gateway Development Commission. The bi-state agency will facilitate the project and will be set up to receive federal funding for the estimated $30 billion Gateway plan, according to NorthJersey.com. The program includes repairing the Hudson River train tunnel, building an additional train tunnel and replacing the Portal Bridge.

Progress with the Gateway Project has stagnated with President Donald Trump and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao refusing federal funding. They say the two states are not paying their fair share.

Both New York and New Jersey assert that time is critical. In March 2018, The New York Times reported that Amtrak, which owns the 110-year-old tunnels, urged a new tunnel be built soon. Hurricane Sandy inflicted extensive damage to the tunnels, which will eventually require closure for repairs.

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.