Regarding Gateway Hudson River Tunnel Project

Dear Representative,

Today I am writing regarding the Gateway Hudson River Tunnel Project. I saw a post by Pete Buttigieg today and I wanted to make sure that it was true. It did not take long to find articles that supported his claims. President Donald Trump wants Washington Dulles International Airport and New York’s Penn Station renamed after himself in exchange for releasing federal funding for the Gateway tunnel project.

The Gateway Hudson River Tunnel Development Project is a multibillion-dollar rail initiative viewed as critical to Northeast Corridor travel and the regional economy, and delays in releasing federal funds threaten construction timelines and union jobs.

Attorney General Letitia James says this project is a critical infrastructure project essential to regional rail service and the national economy.

The Hudson Tunnel Project is the central component of the Gateway Program, a long-planned effort to revitalize Hudson River rail travel. The project will repair the 116-year-old North River tunnel and build a new tunnel beneath the Hudson River. The tunnel was severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy and continues to deteriorate, causing frequent service disruptions and emergency maintenance that impact hundreds of thousands of commuters. Construction on the Hudson Tunnel Project began in 2023 and is currently underway across multiple active sites in New York and New Jersey.

New York and New Jersey have already invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the project, and the federal government has awarded more than $16 billion in total funding through multiple grant and loan programs. However, despite years of planning and coordination, on September 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) abruptly halted all funding for the project.

The pause immediately affects nearly 1,000 workers, and an extended suspension could put about 11,000 construction jobs at risk, along with the 95,000 jobs and $19.6 billion in economic activity the project is projected to generate.

Although I do not live on the east coast, I am a tax-payer and I feel for my fellow United States citizens. I know that my tax dollars should mean something. I believe this action by this president is just one more self-serving action that proves that he is unable to put our United States first when making decisions. Please do what you can to make the funding that was already voted on for this project to be available to restart this project and get people working, despite the unnecessary needs of this president to have his name in lights on places he has not earned the right to bear it. Why is it that in order to get this president to comply, he must be sued? He has set a precedence of wastefulness, in his need to be #1, but not necessarily the best.

Sincerely,

Summer D Clemenson