Trump administration officials made it known to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that the president would release federal funds for a massive rail tunnel project connecting New York and New Jersey on the condition that two major travel hubs be renamed in his honor, according to three people with knowledge of the request.
The three people, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive negotiation, said President Donald Trump would agree to release the funding for the Gateway project, which has been held up since October — but that his ask was that both Washington-Dulles International Airport outside Washington, and Pennsylvania Station in New York City, be renamed for the president.
Schumer declined the offer, according to two people with knowledge of the request. “There was nothing to trade,” said a person close to Schumer. “The president stopped the funding and he can restart the funding with a snap of his fingers.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has withheld billions in federal funding for the $16 billion project, arguing it is conducting a review into whether diversity, equity and inclusion practices had played a factor in awarding contracts for the job. Since that decision, Transportation Secretary Duffy and Trump have given conflicting public statements on the status of Gateway.
When completed, the project would expand the number of rail tunnels between New York City and New Jersey under the Hudson River.
The end of the Gateway tunnel project could put roughly 1,000 workers out of a job. A judge is expected to hear an emergency order to restart the federal funding Friday.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), in a statement Thursday evening, called Trump’s ask “ridiculous.”
“These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers,” she said. “At a time when New Yorkers are already being crushed by high costs under the Trump tariffs, the president continues to put his own narcissism over the good-paying union jobs this project provides and the extraordinary economic impact the Gateway tunnel will bring.”