Trump’s Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued one other spherical of funding threats towards New York state Monday — whereas as soon as once more rollling again a supposed deadline for the tip of congestion pricing.
In a letter to Gov. Hochul Monday, Duffy set his third in a row of seemingly toothless deadlines, telling the state to finish the congestion toll by Could 21.
“The federal government sends billions to New York — but we won’t foot the bill if Governor Hochul continues to implement an illegal toll to backfill the budget of New York’s failing transit system,” Duffy mentioned. “We are giving New York one last chance to turn back or prove their actions are not illegal.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy joins New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams for a prepare trip into Manhattan from the Dekalb Ave-Flatbush Ave subway station in Brooklyn on Friday, April 4, 2025. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Every day Information)
If the toll persists past Could 21, Duffy mentioned, his division is not going to authorize federal funds for any freeway challenge in Manhattan, will refuse to approve Manhattan tasks beneath the Nationwide Environmental Coverage Act, and can refuse to greenlight any funding amendments from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council — until any of these tasks contain security.
Ought to New York’s “noncompliance” proceed, he threatened, they’ll defund tasks citywide.
The threats come as the newest swipe in a showdown about federal authority over the state legislation — particularly New York’s congestion pricing legislation, which Duffy continues to claim he can finish.
Duffy first claimed to have the ability to revoke an already-granted federal authorization in February, weeks after New York started tolling drivers who entered Midtown and decrease Manhattan in an implementation of the state’s 2019 Visitors Mobility Act, which required the toll as a way of funding a selected checklist of MTA transit tasks.
The MTA promptly sued, calling the revocation unconstitutional. Hochul agreed, likened Trump to a king, and mentioned the toll would stay in impact absent a court docket order.
(L-R) U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Inside Secretary Doug Burgum, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy look on as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to signal govt orders within the Oval Workplace of the White Home on April 9, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Picture by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Photos)
In response, Duffy set a March 21 deadline for ending the toll. The transportation secretary then prolonged the deadline to April 20, earlier than extending it once more on Monday to Could 21.
In the meantime, the MTA’s swimsuit over the constitutionality of Duffy’s order continues to work its manner via Manhattan federal court docket, the place attorneys for the feds mentioned earlier this month they’re “still evaluating what DOT’s options are” ought to New York hold the toll in place.
Duffy has known as the toll — which fees most drivers $9 as soon as a day to enter the congestion zone — “class warfare.”
Whereas he acknowledged in his letter to Hochul that federal legislation permits tolls “to be used for transit projects,” he added “it is unconscionable as a matter of policy that highway users are being forced to bail out the MTA transit system.”
Initially Revealed: April 21, 2025 at 1:09 PM EDT
