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Work on Gateway Project Halted Because of Pause on Federal Funds

Rail tunnel laborers fume over layoffs

By: Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

NORTH BERGEN - Lamonte Richardson had a feeling of deja vu last week [02/06/2026] when he went home to tell his family and three school-age children that he had been laid off from his job as a shop steward on the Gateway rail tunnel project, halted because of a pause on federal funds.
..... The Newark resident had to do the same thing 16 years ago -when ARC, the predecessor project to Gateway, was suddenly terminated by then-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
..... "Being laid off sporadically like that out of nowhere is detrimental to me, my fellow members and my family," Richardson, a member of Local 472, the union for heavy and general construction of the Laborers' International Union of North America, said on Monday, February 9. [2026] "I don't understand what the holdup is."
..... The $16 billion Gateway program, the largest federally funded infrastructure project in U.S. history, was supposed to be the very symbol of stability and economic promise - and send a message that the U.S. could successfully build large-scale civil works projects on time and on budget.
..... On average, 34.400 jobs would be cerated in the New York-New Jersey region per year over more than three decades because of the Gateway tunnel and related projects and another 21,700 jobs would be generated around the country to support this massive, 15-year construction program.
..... That promise is being put on hold by President Donald Trump, who paused federal reimbursements for the program on September 30 [2025] and vowed several times to "terminate" the program as a vindictive measure against Democrats.
..... The Gateway Development Commission is the bi-state agency overseeing constitution of the new two-track Hudson rail tunnel, as well as repairs to the current tunnel, which is decaying from age and corrosion.
..... NJ Transit and Amtrak riders who take trains that use the old tunnel routinely deal with delays, cancellations and unreliable commutes because of the tunnel's age, as well as the damage form corrosive salt water during Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
..... The commission tapped a 4500 million credit facility to find tunnel construction for the past four months, hoping issues with the Trump administration would be worked out by now.
..... More than $205 million owed to Gateway, through an agreement struck with the federal government and approved by Congress in 2024, had been held up since September 30. [2025]
..... Now the Gateway commission is out of money, construction is paused indefinitely, and the nearly 1,000 laborers who were laid off last week [02/06/2026] are fuming.
..... "Imagine being here at work on Friday, [02/06/2026] doing your trade, moving this equipment, moving this dirt around, and then today [02/09/2026] you don't have a job because the president of the United States wants something named after him," said Brent Booker, general president of the Laborer' International Union.
..... Booker was referring to recent reports that Trump would release the money if New York Penn Station and Dulles International Airport were renamed after him. "this isn't an America First agenda, this is a Trump first agenda, and we've got to put that aside and get our members back to work," Booker said.

Drivers honk in support

..... More than 100 of those out-of-work laborers from various trades rallied at Gateway;s North Bergen project site on Monday, February 9. [2026] They stood on Routes 1&9 getting friendly honks from passing trucks and motorists.
..... They held signs that said "Jobs Over Politics" and "Fun Gateway Now." they led "Everywhere we go chants and cheered for speakers, including New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill and U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader from New York.
..... "Not one laborer had quit the job, not one, because all of you know that it is a special job, this is a generational job, this is something your grandkids are going to talk about," said Sherrill who credits her family's stability to her grandfather's decision to get a union job at a General Motors auto plant after falling into poverty because of the Great Depression and serving in World War II.
..... To chants of "Thank you, Milie" and "Release the funds," the newly elected governor of New Jersey shared backstories of some of the workers being affected by the pause, including Justin Fowler,a 20-year member of Local 472.
..... Like so many of you, he;s got a family to feed, he's got kids to take care of his son is severely autistic, he cannot have his heath care lapse - that is what the president doesn't seem to get," Sherrill said.
..... "There are working men and women feeding their families on this job, and every day that this goes by, that he doesn't release the funds, is a day that our families are in trouble," Sherrill said.

Flood of court activity

..... The Gateway commission sued the Trump administration on Tuesday February 3, [2026] in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in an effort to restore the flow of federal money to the project, and the states of New York and new Jersey sued the federal government on Wednesday February 4, [2026] in U.S. district Court for the Southern District of New York.
..... Jeannette Vargas, a federal judge in the latter case, heard arguments form the tow sides during a hastily scheduled hearing on the afternoon of Friday, February 6. [2026] Later that night, she issued a decision siding with the states and ordered the Trump administration to lift the freeze on the money.
..... The federal government appealed that decision on Monday February 9, [2026] saying it might not be able to recoup the $205 million if it prevails in court.
..... Vargas denied the appeal, but she granted the federal government an administrative stay until 5 PM. on Thursday, February 12, so it can appeal her denial in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
..... At last Friday's [20/06/2026] hearing, New Jersey's lawyers - who argued on behalf of the two states - detailed at length the "irreparable harms" this pause in construction is having on workers, commuters, the future of the project and the states that are having to pay increased financing costs for the loan that pelt construction going, plus about $20 million in unexpected monthly expenses to secure the project sites and store equipment.
..... Those arguments weighed heavily in Vargas' decisions to life the federal government's freeze on the money while the case plays out.
..... "The states have demonstrated that the shutdown of petitions will have an immediate and severe impact on the region's economic interests," Vargas wrote in her decision on Monday February 9, [2026] to deny the federal government's request for a stay.
..... The Gateway Development Commission "has already begun laying off workers who depend upon the Hudson River Tunnel for their livelihood," she wrote. "Substantial delays could lead to the loss of up to 95,000 jobs. An action for beach of contract brought by GDC in the Court of Federal Claims will not provide nay relief to those whose jobs are at imminent risk.
.... "A prolonged shutdown is also predicted to result in the lost of $7.3 billion in annual GDP associated with completion of the Hudson River Project," the judge wrote.

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