NJ Gov. Mikie Sherrill taking Trump to court over 'illegal' rail tunnel funding freeze

Remember infrastructure week, the week that never happened during the first Trump presidency? Well, it's happening now and Donald Trump's version of infrastructure week is to kill the most important infrastructure project in the United States.

Donald Trump is trying to stop the funding for construction for a new tunnel under the Hudson River.

connecting the state of New York and the state of New Jersey, a project that already secured funding with bipartisan support during the Biden presidency.

And now the Interstate Commission in charge of building the tunnel has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Trump administration for withholding $205 million in payments for work on the tunnel.

The last Republican mayor of New York City, billionaire Michael Bloomberg writes, this is not some local pet project. It's of national economic importance. The new tunnel will allow passengers up and down the East Coast to move faster and more reliably, while also mitigating road congestion in numerous states and relieving air travel pressures.

It will also expand the entire region's labor market, accelerate its housing growth, and increase its business activity and investment. From an economic perspective, the tunnel is an absolute no-brainer and it's long overdue.

New Jersey's Governor Mikie Sherrill won her election last year by the surprisingly large margin of 14 points and fighting for the new tunnel was one of the ways she beat Donald Trump's chosen candidate for governor of New Jersey.

Joining us now is New Jersey's Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill. Governor, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Um, there is there's Donald Trump who doesn't understand anything about business and the economy the way Mike Bloomberg does and you you are going to have to fight for every penny now it seems.

That's exactly right. Um, we are already at work on this tunnel.

Millions have been spent on the high-end tunneling gear. They are at the it's at the site. We've employed about a thousand people already. I was just over at Tunnely Avenue the other day where concrete pads are being poured in in anticipation of getting the tunneling gear ready to go.

And all this could come to a stop Friday, which is why uh in New Jersey and New York, our states are suing the president because he's illegally withholding this money that could account for almost 100,000 jobs in the region and about $20 billion in economic output.

Yeah, and and this this kind of funding is not easy to achieve.

It took a bipartisan support uh group to get it done. People were working on it for years, many, many years, some over the course of decades from the conception of the the the first notion of it.

Uh, and so you you win this, you get it, and Donald Trump comes in and says, I'm just going to take it away.

Yeah, fighting tooth and nail in the first Trump administration. I was called the tunnel obsessed Congresswoman. I am now the tunnel obsessed governor because I am not going to quit.

This is too important to the region. It's too important to the country. This is the most important infrastructure program in the nation.

It is a a rail tunnel from New Jersey into New York. About 200,000 people go through the the current rail tunnel right now. It was damaged by Superstorm Sandy, as you heard from Mike Bloomberg, uh, who talked a little bit about how important it is to business and commerce, not just for the region, but for the country.

It makes no sense when you see a president who is harming jobs, harming the economy right here, especially when his jobs numbers are not looking so hot.

But as we've seen across the country, every time Trump gets involved, costs go up and working people suffer.

I mean, and New York is the the heartbeat of this economy and has been for a couple hundred years now uh in this country.

Donald Trump doesn't seem to understand uh that you cannot, you you cannot attack it and then expect the economy to thrive, expect to see good economic numbers.

And Lawrence, if you'll forgive my state pride, I would say a lot of that heartbeat in New York is fueled by New Jersey workers.

And in order for that to continue, this tunnel has to function. And as I said, the current Hudson River tunnel right now has been damaged. It's over 115 years old.

We have got to keep at work on this. It is such a no-brainer. And so to take the money that has already been committed, $15 billion, $4 billion of it already ready to be put to work in an account and to put a stop to it, which will end things on Friday if he is not stopped from this illegal action.

It it really is such a harm to the region and such a complete waste of money given that we are already, we have already spent money, we are ready to go and any delay will just raise costs.

What did you learn in your campaign and in this story about Donald Trump's ability to lose elections for Republicans?

He hurts working people. He hurts families because you know, this tunnel isn't just about all of the people that could be employed with really good jobs in this region.

It's also about those commuters that go back and forth every single day. My husband's one of them. It's the difference if, you know, you're having a delay between picking your kid up at daycare on time or making it home to eat with your family or your kids' soccer or basketball game.

And Trump just doesn't seem to care about families and people across the country. Uh, he's been enriching himself now to the tune of billions of dollars and really uh ending the ability for other families to make it here, to create the opportunity that this country is so known for.

And that's why I keep saying it makes no sense. I'm going to fight it tooth and nail. We're in court now and we are going to see that the workers can continue, that commuters get the the type of commute they deserve and that the economy can flourish.

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

Thank you so much for having me.