Ciattarelli breaks ranks after Trump axes $18B Gateway Tunnel in NJ

💲President Trump says funding for the Gateway Tunnel project is 'terminated'

💲The move drew bipartisan backlash as Democrats accuse Trump of political revenge

💲Political analysts question whether Trump has the legal power to halt the funding

Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli has found an issue on which to split from Donald Trump. Apparently, harming the Hudson River commuter rail project is a bridge too far.

On Wednesday, Trump curtly announced that the billion-dollar Gateway Project between New Jersey and New York is “terminated,” sending shockwaves, even though it remains to be seen if the order will stick.

The president, still fuming over what he calls the Democratic shutdown of the government even though his Republican Party has majority control of both houses of Congress, told reporters that his budget chief was axing projects tied to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

“Tell him it’s terminated,” Trump said.

Trump had already frozen $18 billion for the Gateway Development Commission to fund the new rail tunnel under the Hudson River when the shutdown began on Oct. 1.

Ciattarelli draws a line

Ciattarelli, who has spent much of his campaign praising Trump’s leadership, finally found something to disagree on.

“New Jersey needs a governor who can work with — and when necessary, disagree with — the president,” he posted on X on Wednesday night. “The Gateway Tunnel is critical. I’ll fight to get it done.”

It’s a sharp turn for the Republican hopeful, a former Trump critic who came around to claiming that he couldn’t think of a single issue where he and Trump didn’t see eye to eye.

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New Jersey political leaders vow to fight Trump’s order

Ciattarelli's opponent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, who's been leading but slipping in opinion polls, accused Trump of "ripping away tens of thousands of jobs and stealing billions of dollars from our state."

"I’ll fight tooth and nail to get this funding back and complete this essential infrastructure project for our state, commuters, and economy. @Jack4NJ says that Gateway isn’t a Jersey issue and refuses to stand up to Trump, no matter the cost to New Jersey," she said on X.

U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim said the decision “sends a clear signal that President Trump is more focused on punishing perceived enemies than serving the American people or delivering for New Jersey families.”

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. 5th District, said Trump is taking a sledgehammer to one of the most important infrastructure projects in the entire country and to the jobs it created.

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Can Trump legally cancel Gateway Project funding?

Schumer said the decision is “pure spite and stupidity” and “petty revenge politics that would screw hundreds of thousands of New York and New Jersey commuters, choke off our economy, and kill good-paying jobs.”

The situation also raises the question of whether Trump can legally stop funding for the project. Congress approved the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in May 2021, which appropriated billions in funding for the Gateway Project and other improvements to the Northeast Corridor.

"The president does not have the ability to unilaterally cancel funding that’s already been appropriated, though," Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, told New Jersey 101.1. "But that hasn’t stopped him in other instances so far this year, and there’s plenty of Gateway funding that has not yet been appropriated."

Rasmussen said that if the Republicans in Congress don't stop him, then Trump has the de facto power

"Given that his OMB just may stop writing checks, someone would need to compel him to start writing them again," Rasmussen said.

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