Schumer hits back at Trump over 'vital' Gateway Tunnel project

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Feb 17, 2026

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Sen. Chuck Schumer is hitting back at President Donald Trump as the pair escalate their feud over the $16 billion Gateway Tunnel rail project connecting New York and New Jersey.

After Trump denounced Gateway as a “boondoggle” that he claimed would be plagued by delays, Schumer accused him of playing politics with the sprawling public works project and the people it employs.

“Hey, Mr. President, you know what causes cost overruns on complex, already under way and fully funded vital transportation infrastructure projects?” Schumer tweeted. “Suddenly, illegally and arbitrarily cutting off federal funds and putting 1,000 union workers out of their jobs.”

Trump last year said he was putting the project on hold because he wanted to investigate whether it used what he called improper diversity, equity and inclusion principles to award some of the contracts.

As work started grinding to a halt, a federal judge on Feb. 6 ordered officials to release funding for the project because it was already approved by Congress and signed into law by former President Joe Biden.

Trump switched his tune over the weekend and claimed the real reason he opposed the project was because it was a waste of taxpayer dollars, comparing it to California’s troubled high-speed rail project.

“Gateway will likewise be financially catastrophic for the region, unless hard work and proper planning is done, NOW, to avoid insurmountable future cost overruns,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

Trump also denied as “fake news” reports that he told Schumer he would restore funding for the project, but only if New York’s Penn Station and Dulles Airport in the Washington, D.C. area were named after him.

“TRUMP STATION was brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me,” he added.

N.J. Gov. Mikie Sherrill joined Schumer in roasting Trump, saying Gateway was on time and within its budget until he froze funding.

“The only person who can make Gateway a boondoggle is Donald Trump,” the Democratic governor said in a statement.

Gateway will build two new tunnels and rehabilitate the existing 116-year-old rail tunnels that run beneath the Hudson River. The first boring was set to begin in the New Jersey side of the river later this year.