Democratic mayoral hopeful Zohran Mamdani, joined Friday by get together leaders, referred to as President Trump’s determination to freeze funding meant for 2 main NYC transit infrastructure initiatives an assault on town.
“This is about Donald Trump going to war with New York City,” Mamdani informed reporters standing above the location of the longer term Hudson River Tunnel on Friday.
On Wednesday, the primary day of the continued federal authorities shutdown, Trump lieutenant Russel Vought declared he was pausing funding for the $16 billion tunnel challenge — meant to double practice capability between New York Penn Station — in addition to a long-overdue extension of the Second Ave. Subway line.
In an unsigned assertion, the USDOT linked the funding cuts to suspected non-compliance with a so-called “interim final rule” that had solely been revealed the night prior, limiting funding for initiatives utilizing “race- and sex-based contracting requirements.”
“Let me be clear about what’s happening,” U.S. Rep Jerry Nadler (D-New York) stated Friday, standing beside Mamdani, “On the first day of the government shutdown, the Trump administration shamefully froze funding for two of the most critical infrastructure projects in the entire nation, under completely phony pretenses.”
“Trump’s revenge politics have put 150,000 good paying American jobs on the line,” Nadler stated. “These are jobs that are held by Republicans and Democrats alike.”
From left, State Rep. Tony Simone, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler and State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal are pictured close to the development web site of the Hudson River Tunnel on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Manhattan, New York. (Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Every day Information)
Each initiatives are funded through “full-funding grant agreements,” by which the federal authorities picks up a portion of the tab not lined by state and native companions.
USDOT has agreed to select up $3.4 billion of the tab for the Second Ave. Subway extension, a challenge that might carry fast transit to East Harlem for the primary time in practically 1 / 4 of a century.
The feds equally dedicated $6.9 billion to the Hudson River Tunnel challenge, on high of $3.8 billion in federal funding from the Division of Transportation’s Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail program, and $2 billion in federal {dollars} fronted by Amtrak, which might controls the rails set to run by way of the tunnel.
Work continued on the Hudson River Tunnel on Friday because the Democrats spoke. Employees in high-visibility vests and exhausting hats might be seen transferring among the many excavators in a deep pit at what’s slated to grow to be the tunnel’s jap exit close to W. thirtieth St.
“Yes the work can go on for the moment,” Nadler stated, as contracts on each initiatives have been awarded and partially paid. “If the money doesn’t come through, then work will stop.”
Crews proceed to work on digging the Hudson River Tunnel on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, in Manhattan, New York. (Evan Simko-Bednarski / New York Every day Information)
The consequence, Mamdani stated, is uncertainty.
“Donald Trump and his sycophants have thrown all of this into disarray,” he stated.
“We are discussing people who are very clearly not serious — people for whom New Yorkers are simply pawns in a political game,” Mamdani continued. “And yet we know that the consequences of these unserious people will be immensely serious for the people who call this city home.”
“It shows how little he thinks of the people from the city that he likes to remind us that he is from,” the mayoral candidate stated of Trump.
Initially Revealed: October 3, 2025 at 5:50 PM EDT
