Millions of dollars in federal funds were set to flow once again to the Hudson River Tunnel Thursday night, after a federal court order blocking the bucks expired.
The expiration effectively reinstated Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jeanette Vargas’ order from last week in a suit brought against the feds by the states of New York and New Jersey. That order, which had been put on ice until 5 p.m. Thursday, stopped the Trump administration from blocking the distribution of federal funds for the $16 billion rail tunnel project.
“The court’s order is now in effect, and the federal government must immediately release funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “This administration never had the authority to freeze this funding, and it no longer has any excuse to delay.”
“We expect full compliance with the court’s order and the prompt delivery of the funds needed to keep workers on the job and this critical project moving forward,” she added.
A flurry of filings by the feds earlier this week led to Vargas temporarily pausing her injunction while attorneys for the Department of Transportation sought to challenge it at the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.
AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey
The Gateway tunnel under construction in Manhattan last year. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
But the appellate court did not come to the Trump administration’s rescue as Vargas’ block expired Thursday. In a brief, two-sentence order, the court referred the matter to a full panel the week of February 23.
“This is good news for the Hudson Tunnel Project, and we anticipate receiving the $205 million in reimbursement funds from the federal government,” a spokesman for the Gateway Development Commission, the bi-state body in charge of building the tunnel, said in a statement Thursday.
GDC is not a party to the states’ suit, and is separately suing the federal government for breach of contract over the funding freeze.
The Trump administration initially froze funding last fall, announcing that they would block the distribution of the congressionally approved funds just hours into last year’s federal government shutdown.
While the USDOT has claimed the funding interdiction is tied to the Trump administration’s change to diversity rules in construction contracting, the president and his coterie have offered other explanations. After stating in October that the project was “terminated” because it was supported by Democratic lawmakers, Trump went on to offer to restore the funding if Penn Station and Dulles Airport were named after him.
In an unrelated explanation, White House spokesman Kush Desai claimed last month that the funding freeze was over the fact that Democratic lawmakers had supposedly not been “prioritizing the interests of Americans over illegal aliens.”
Thursday’s restoration of funding is temporary, pending a ruling on the feds’ motions in the Second Circuit — a reality acknowledged by the GDC on Thursday.
“While this is a positive step, we need consistent, reliable access to the Hudson Tunnel Project’s federal funding moving forward,” a GDC spokesman said. “GDC continues to pursue all avenues to regain access to all the federal funds for this urgent project, including our lawsuit. We are confident in our legal position and look forward to resolving this important matter.”
