Booker Leads Senate Colleagues in Urging President Trump to Release Allocated Federal Funds for Gateway Project

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), alongside members of New Jersey and New York’s Congressional Delegations, sent a letter urging President Trump to release the previously allocated federal funding for the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project, the nation's largest and most urgent infrastructure project.
The legislators wrote:“Every day, the tunnels carry hundreds of thousands of passengers and commuters and serve as a vital, although bottlenecked, link between the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Currently, there is only one track in and one track out of New York Penn Station underneath the Hudson River. Failure in any one of these tunnels would be catastrophic for the New York, New Jersey, and national economy.
“Construction on the Hudson River Tunnels would add desperately needed capacity and resiliency to our transportation system. The project currently employees approximately 1,000 workers, and over its lifetime will involve as many as 95,000 mostly union workers. Stopping this project would eliminate those tens of thousands of building trades jobs and forego billions in positive economic-multiplier benefits, while leaving the region and nation vulnerable to bottlenecks, disruptions, and even catastrophic collapse.
“The funding for this project is fully secured, environmental reviews are complete, and shovels are in the ground. Stopping work now makes no economic or practical sense. Construction on the project is already underway at five sites in New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson River itself thanks to the Full Funding Grant Agreement signed by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the Gateway Development Commission (GDC). That agreement finalized a $6.88B billion grant to construct the new tunnels and rehabilitate the existing 115-year-old ones and outlined full funding for the $16.1B project, including $3.8B in Federal Railroad Administration grants, $4.4B in local support through federal RRIF loans, and another $1B in Amtrak funding. Through this funding, GDC secured the commitments needed to construct and complete Gateway by 2035.”
The legislators conclude:“All that is needed now is for you to reestablish the flow of the already appropriated and obligated funds. We urge you to do this immediately. Failure to do so in the coming days will cause contractors to cease work, workers to lose jobs, and perhaps permanently kill this nationally significant transportation infrastructure project. Every day that funding is delayed to Gateway brings us closer to the unthinkable: a derailed project that is already funded, the risk of tunnel failure or collapse, vastly reduced or even halted train traffic under the Hudson River, and profound negative economic impacts.”
A full copy of the letter can be foundhereand below:
Dear President Trump:
We write to urge you to promptly release previously committed, and already appropriated and allocated, federal funding to the nation’s largest and most urgent infrastructure project – the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project. The existing Hudson River Tunnels are 115 years old; they have been further weakened by flooding from Superstorm Sandy and must be repaired.
Every day, the tunnels carry hundreds of thousands of passengers and commuters and serve as a vital, although bottlenecked, link between the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Currently, there is only one track in and one track out of New York Penn Station underneath the Hudson River. Failure in any one of these tunnels would be catastrophic for the New York, New Jersey, and national economy.
Construction on the Hudson River Tunnels would add desperately needed capacity and resiliency to our transportation system. The project currently employees approximately 1,000 workers, and over its lifetime will involve as many as 95,000 mostly union workers. Stopping this project would eliminate those tens of thousands of building trades jobs and forego billions in positive economic-multiplier benefits, while leaving the region and nation vulnerable to bottlenecks, disruptions, and even catastrophic collapse.
The funding for this project is fully secured, environmental reviews are complete, and shovels are in the ground. Stopping work now makes no economic or practical sense. Construction on the project is already underway at five sites in New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson River itself thanks to the Full Funding Grant Agreement signed by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) and the Gateway Development Commission (GDC). That agreement finalized a $6.88B billion grant to construct the new tunnels and rehabilitate the existing 115-year-old ones and outlined full funding for the $16.1B project, including $3.8B in Federal Railroad Administration grants, $4.4B in local support through federal RRIF loans, and another $1B in Amtrak funding. Through this funding, GDC secured the commitments needed to construct and complete Gateway by 2035.
However, on September 30, 2025, your Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought announced his intention to stall funding for the Hudson River Tunnels along with funds for the Second Avenue Subway in New York City for a supposed “Disadvantaged Business Enterprise” review that could only be completed after the government shutdown concluded. That shutdown concluded on November 13, 2025, and USDOT has had ample time since to complete its review. In fact, correspondence between GDC and USDOT on December 1 and then again on December 8 indicate that the review is complete and that no further action from either party is necessary.
All that is needed now is for you to reestablish the flow of the already appropriated and obligated funds. We urge you to do this immediately. Failure to do so in the coming days will cause contractors to cease work, workers to lose jobs, and perhaps permanently kill this nationally significant transportation infrastructure project. Every day that funding is delayed to Gateway brings us closer to the unthinkable: a derailed project that is already funded, the risk of tunnel failure or collapse, vastly reduced or even halted train traffic under the Hudson River, and profound negative economic impacts.
On the other hand, reestablishing funding will allow work to continue, avoid the monumental loss of jobs, and permit progress to be made in a timely and economic fashion to complete this vital transportation infrastructure project. We look forward to working with you and the USDOT and its agencies to once again move forward on the Gateway Hudson Tunnel Project.