New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is calling on President Donald Trump to restore $16 billion in Gateway Tunnel funding, warning 100,000 jobs are at risk in a major infrastructure standoff. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
"New Jersey will fight tooth and nail for our hard-earned tax dollars and this essential project that will make commutes easier and improve quality of life for residents in the Garden State," she added.
Sherrill said that New Jersey and New York make up the most powerful economic region in the world and called the Gateway Project the most urgent and consequential infrastructure project in the country.
The Trump administration, hours into a federal government shutdown in the fall, announced the freezing of billions of dollars in federal funding for the tunnel, as well as for the extension of New York City’s Second Avenue Subway.
Trump then terminated the funding, blaming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for being responsible for the shutdown. Trump noted that Schumer had spent years trying to get the project built.
TRUMP RIPS CONGESTION PRICING, CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE END: 'A DISASTER FOR NEW YORK'
Workers at a construction site for the Gateway Program’s Hudson Tunnel Project in New York City. The White House has frozen billions in infrastructure funding, including money for the Hudson Tunnel and Second Avenue Subway, amid the ongoing budget impasse. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The project is considered necessary because the existing Hudson River rail tunnels are 115 years old and were badly damaged by saltwater flooding during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. They carry about 70,000 New Jersey commuters daily and Amtrak has warned that failure of one tunnel could cut rail traffic into New York City by up to 75%.
Meanwhile, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., echoed Sherrill’s demands, calling the continued withholding of federal funds "inexcusable" and urging the administration to immediately release the money.
"These actions put union workers and families across New York and New Jersey at risk and threaten the most critical infrastructure project in the nation," Gillibrand said.
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"New Yorkers will not be treated as political pawns in this administration’s twisted game of chess," she added.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also blasted the funding freeze, calling it "the latest collateral damage" of what she described as Trump’s vindictive effort to harm New Yorkers.
"Make no mistake, the Gateway Tunnel is vital to the economy of this state and the entire region, and I will fight like hell to ensure it gets built," Hochul said.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
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