Respectfully urges President Trump to promptly restore federal funding to Gateway Tunnel Project.

SR81

SENATE RESOLUTION No. 81

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MARCH 5, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� JOSEPH P. CRYAN

District 20 (Union)

SYNOPSIS

���� Respectfully urges President Trump to promptly
restore federal funding to Gateway Tunnel Project.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

A Senate
Resolution

respectfully
urging President Donald J. Trump to promptly restore federal funding to the
Gateway Tunnel Project.

Whereas,
The Northeast Corridor is
the most widely-traveled passenger rail line in the country, supporting
approximately 800,000 daily passenger trips; and

Whereas,

The Gateway Program is a series of rail infrastructure projects aimed at
remediating and expanding the capacity of passenger trains along the busiest,
most congested 10-mile section of the Northeast Corridor; and

Whereas,

The Gateway Program�s Hudson Tunnel Project, commonly known as the Gateway
Tunnel Project, has received approximately $12 billion in federal grants and $4
billion in federal loans to repair a rapidly-deteriorating, 116-year-old tunnel,
which serves roughly 200,000 passenger trips each day in an area that produces
10 percent of the county�s economic output, and to construct a new tunnel to
facilitate commuter lines between New Jersey and Manhattan; and

Whereas,

Construction of the Gateway Tunnel Project is anticipated to generate approximately
95,000 jobs and $19.6 billion in economic activity; and

Whereas,

The federal government pledged to contribute nearly three-fourths of the
estimated cost of the Gateway Tunnel Project, and construction on the project
has been underway for over two years with target completion dates of 2035 for
the new tunnel and 2038 for remediation of the aging tunnel; and

Whereas,

In October 2025, President Donald J. Trump announced that the Gateway Tunnel
Project was terminated, and the United States Department of Transportation
(department) froze all federal funding for the project; and

Whereas,

While a $500 million line of credit enabled the Gateway Development Commission (commission),
the lead agency responsible for constructing and facilitating the Gateway
Tunnel Project, to continue construction on the project, the commission�s
available funding sources and credit are nearly depleted; and

Whereas,

On February 2, 2026, the commission filed a complaint in federal district court
alleging the department breached its contractual obligations by withholding over
$205 million in federal funding for the Gateway Tunnel Project without a
legitimate legal basis and an Order to Show Cause seeking emergent relief to
lift the department�s funding freeze; and

Whereas,

On February 6, 2026, a federal judge ordered the department to restore the
funding for the Gateway Tunnel Project but subsequently issued a temporary stay
of that order to allow the department time to file an appeal, which is now
pending; and

Whereas,

With enforcement of the February 6, 2026 order stayed and the department�s
appeal pending, all work on the Gateway Tunnel Project is at a standstill,
forcing layoffs of approximately 1,000 union laborers and leaving active
construction sites unfinished with gaping holes in the ground; and

Whereas,

An extended delay to construction on the Gateway Tunnel Project will increase
the likelihood of the aging tunnel being shut down, jeopardize thousands of
additional jobs, risk billions in anticipated economic benefits, and imperil
the future and viability of the project; and

Whereas,

Prompt action is necessary to restore federal funding to the Gateway Tunnel Project
to remediate aging rail infrastructure, promote the safety of countless daily
commuters traveling between New York and New Jersey, and prevent significant disruptions
in public transit that would have deleterious impacts on the local and national
economy; now, therefore,

����
Be It
Resolved
by the Senate of the State of New
Jersey:

���� 1.��� This
House respectfully urges President Donald J. Trump to promptly restore federal funding
to the Gateway Tunnel Project.

���� 2.��� Copies of this
resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the
Secretary of the Senate to the President of the United States.

STATEMENT

���� This resolution respectfully
urges President Donald J. Trump to promptly restore federal funding to the
Gateway Tunnel Project.

���� The Gateway Program is a
series of rail infrastructure projects aimed at remediating and expanding the
capacity of passenger trains along the busiest, most congested 10-mile section
of the Northeast Corridor.� The Gateway Program�s Hudson Tunnel Project,
commonly known as the Gateway Tunnel Project, has received approximately $12
billion in federal grants and $4 billion in federal loans to repair a
rapidly-deteriorating, 116-year-old tunnel and to construct a new tunnel to
facilitate commuter lines between New Jersey and Manhattan.

���� The federal government pledged
to contribute nearly three-fourths of the costs of the Gateway Tunnel Project,
and construction on the project has been underway for more than two years.�
However, in October 2025, President Donald J. Trump announced that the Gateway
Tunnel Project was terminated and all federal funds to the project were
frozen.� Without the federally-committed funds, the Gateway Development
Commission relied primarily on a $500 million line of credit to continue
construction on the project, but the available project funds are nearly
depleted.

���� On
February 2, 2026, the commission filed a complaint in federal district court
alleging the
United States Department of Transportation
(department)
breached its contractual obligations by withholding federal
funding for the Gateway Tunnel Project without a legitimate legal basis and an
Order to Show Cause seeking emergent relief to lift the department�s funding
freeze. �On February 6, 2026, a federal judge ordered the department to restore
the funding for the Gateway Tunnel Project but subsequently issued a temporary
stay of that order to allow the department time to file an appeal, which is now
pending.

���� With enforcement of the
February 6, 2026 order stayed and the department�s appeal pending, all work on
the Gateway Tunnel Project is at a standstill, forcing layoffs of approximately
1,000 union laborers and leaving active construction sites unfinished with
gaping holes in the ground.� An extended delay to construction on the Gateway
Tunnel Project will increase the likelihood of the aging tunnel being shut
down, jeopardize thousands of additional jobs, risk billions in anticipated
economic benefits, and imperil the future and viability of the project.

���� Prompt action is necessary to
restore federal funding to the Gateway Tunnel Project to remediate aging rail
infrastructure, promote the safety of countless daily commuters traveling
between New York and New Jersey, and prevent significant disruptions in public
transit that would have deleterious impacts on the local and national economy.�
Therefore, this House respectfully urges President Donald J. Trump to promptly
restore federal funding to the Gateway Tunnel Project.