A federal judge has ruled that the flow of money for the $16 billion Gateway rail tunnel project does not have to be restarted before Thursday evening.
Judge Jeannette Vargas of Federal District Court in Manhattan issued a temporary stay of her Friday night order that the US Department of Transportation end a four-month suspension of funding for the tunnel. She gave the government until 5pm on Thursday to appeal the order while denying its request for a stay of that order.
All this means most of the work on Gateway could be halted until funding resumes.
The Gateway Development Commission, which manages the tunnel project, laid off about 1,000 workers on Friday after it used up a bank line of credit that was covering expenses.
The legal action began with New York and New Jersey suing Donald Trump, claiming he is illegally withholding the funding since it had been authorized by Congress.
New Jersey Senator Andy Kim says it’s not the first time Trump has taken aim at the blue northeastern states.
“It’s very tangible that we’re being targeted the same way that I felt that we were targeted on the SALT tax cap that he put on a couple of years back and we’re continuing to suffer from,” said Kim. “We just see certain times where we’ve been just really singled out as a state and this is one of them.”
The Gateway Development Commission is also suing the administration, saying it has violated contracts by withholding funding since October.
Senator Cory Booker said the importance of this project cannot be overstated.
"This project is a stretch of train that isn’t just vital for New York and New Jersey, it is vital for the entire northeastern corridor, the busiest rail stretch in all of North America,” he said.
Governor Mikie Sherrill, who along with Booker spoke at a news conference Friday in Weehawken with other members of the state’s congressional delegation, said there will be no bargaining on Gateway.
“This is illegal. This money was designated by Congress. He does not legally have the right to make any more demands on this money,” she said. “This money is illegally being withheld. So there’s no need to deal. That’s why we’re in court.”