President Trump has been talking a lot about infrastructure repair… but it appears if an infrastructure repair project came from the Obama administration, he wants to kill it.
The Trump administration has shut down an Obama-era deal to have the federal government help fund a $13 billion rail tunnel project between New York and New Jersey, according to Crain’s New York Business.
In a letter obtained by Crain’s, an administration official calls the deal for the federal government to fund half of the project “non-existent.”
“Your letter also references a non-existent ’50/50′ agreement between USDOT, New York, and New Jersey. There is no such agreement,” Federal Transit Administration deputy administrator K. Jane Williams wrote in Friday’s letter, which came after New York and New Jersey requested federal loans to cover their part of the deal to split the cost of the work.
“We consider it unhelpful to reference a non-existent ‘agreement’ rather than directly address the responsibility for funding a local project where nine out of 10 passengers are local transit riders,” Williams continued.
The project in question would have funded much-needed repairs to an Amtrak tunnel between New Jersey and New York City, as well as help fix a damaged dual-tunnel conduit and rebuild New Jersey’s Portal Bridge.