Chao Urges House Committee To Oppose Hudson River Rail Tunnel

Despite the fact New Jersey and New York have agreed to pay 50% of the cost of a badly needed new rail tunnel under the Hudson, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee March 6 that Congress should not appropriate any federal funds for the project, because those two states “have no skin in the game.” Even though New York Republican Congressman Peter King and New Jersey Republican Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen both support the project, Chao and the Trump administration seek to defeat any appropriation for it because of President Trump’s ongoing political feuds with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Rather than investing federal dollars in rebuilding the crumbling transportation infrastructure of the nation’s northeast corridor, and creating high paying jobs for hundreds of construction tradespeople, Trump prefers to continue engaging in petty political battles which produce no benefit to anything other than his own ego.