“If you stand for nothing you’ll fall for anything.” This is a fight worth having. A fight which he will lose like all of the other court cases the administration is losing. Over and over again.
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This is absolutely ridiculous. This asshole only cares about himself, and now work’s stopping, and it’ll cost more to get work going again, leading to an inflated budget, and all the whining MAGA losers are going to call for it to be permanently killed since it’s “wasteful spending,” much like how they actively sabotage California’s HSR.
Here’s the official press release from Gateway announcing that the Federal Government has deliberately and maliciously starved them of funds.
In addition, you can read about their lawsuit against the government here.
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The only silver lining is that the construction workers will lose their jobs. Yes, most of them voted for the Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election, and we all know karma has no statute of limitations.
Since they effectively voted to lose their jobs I would argue that they should be ineligible for state unemployment benefits, but unfortunately this is not the case.
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U.S. Judge Says Trump Cannot Halt Funding for Tunnel Project
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/nyregion/gateway-tunnel-project-funding-trump.html
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Thank god there’s still judges that choose to uphold the law. They won the battle but the fight isn’t over yet. I expect Trump to appeal this to try and subvert the ruling on restoring funds.
Here’s a CNN article reporting on the Judge’s decision.
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Will Trump appeal? They aren’t even pretending to have a legal rationale. They mentioned sanctuary cities, but that has zero to do with transportation funding. The executive branch doesn’t have the power of the purse. Congress has already appropriated funds. This seems like congestion pricing-style harassment. Trump can pound sand.
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Congress is AWOL. Every law enforcement agency in the country is in total disarray. As for the judicial system, the courts have not shown any willingness to put executive powers in check - they have all but disrobed before the Justice Department. If we are not yet already in a constitutional crisis, you can be sure that is where we are headed. The Gateway Project is perhaps a metaphor for the highway to hell that we’re on.
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While the actual Hudson Tunnel work faces absolute uncertainty regarding the illegal seizure of already-appropriated funds, the Portal Bridge work is continuing.
NJ Transit and Amtrak will still be performing the cut-over starting February 15th.
Here’s a video discussing the actual work that will take place along with service changes.
Due to the work, there will be single-track operations on that section of the NEC and modified schedules have been released so riders know what to expect and what alternative options are.
Bonus:
They turned on some track signals on the bridge.
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Construction remains halted while a potential stay / appeal sorts its way through the courts.
The U.S. Department of Transportation asked for a stay of the temporary restraining order while it appeals.
“Unless this court’s order is stayed by 1 p.m. today, the government will be forced to disburse up to $200 million, without any obvious mechanism for recovering that money if the government prevails on appeal. That is irreparable injury,” the government said in its filing.
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The government is sour if they lose, as they’ll have no choice but to release the illegally held money.
While work is officially paused, the Gateway workers will work to finish the Hudson County slurry wall and finish the Tonnelle Avenue bridge project. Other projects will have their construction equipment secured, and sites will still be regularly monitored for security.
In addition, some good news is that a temporary restraining order has been issued, lifting the illegal suspension of funds. This is not a permanent settlement but it does mean work will resume once the money is disbursed (if it ever is). A permanent resolution has not been reached yet, however, although on Feb. 11th, a hearing is scheduled that will determine what happens next and the court will decide whether to turn the temporary restraining order into something more long-term.
Another battle won, but the fight still continues.
The governor also held a union rally at Tonnelle Avenue and was captured on the construction cam.
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https://newjerseymonitor.com/2026/02/09/judge-gateway-project-funding-freeze/
A federal judge on Monday declined to reverse an earlier ruling that directed the federal government to restart reimbursements to states for the stalled Gateway project, but she agreed to pause that order until Feb. 12 to allow the Trump administration to appeal it.
I am sure once February 12 comes around the order will be paused again. The judge gives an undue amount of deference to the criminal regime.
I think the workers should be advised to find other jobs.
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Lights were turned on at the Portal Bridge. I don’t think they’re decorative as some are oppressively bright, but they can keep the lights inside the arches lit, and it’ll be good enough for me.
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Great news regarding the illegal seizure of money: Per a Gateway press release, the federal government was forced to pay Gateway $250 million in reimbursement funds.
However, at the same time, a judge delayed a final ruling. At this time, the actual docket makes no mention of a stay, meaning theoretically, money can be disbursed. The only documented stay so far is the one from Monday, where a temporary stay was issued to give the government time to file an appeal which is yet to be seen.
As of late Feb. 12, the Second Circuit docket (No. 26-282) showed no order granting a stay.
The most significant thing is that after the above article was released, the Appellate Court refused to intervene, thus the government has to give them the $250 million.
Unsurprisingly, the government, completely displeased, has to disburse the money without delay.
The government has said the ruling puts it on the hook to immediately disburse about $200 million in payments. It urged the 2nd Circuit to halt the order.
The case is not over yet: the Court will be hearing arguments at some point during the week of Feb. 23, but until then, it is not intervening.
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if the feds don’t pay the money there’s not much the judge can do except drag lowly DOJ lawyers into court, hold them in contempt and send them to jail
the American legal system is an absolute joke
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OK, let’s get back on track.
Would you consider the following to be off-topic?
The court has ruled that the federal government must restore funding for the tunnel project.
The federal government has declined to follow the court order.
The court can use the US Marshals Service to compel the government under threat of force to restore funding for the tunnel project.
However, the marshals are ultimately under control of the executive branch, which will order them to stand down.
Therefore there is no way for funding to be restored.
Which means tunnel construction is unlikely to resume until January 2029 or January 2033 at the earliest (and possibly even later than that).
I hope that was on-topic. Feel free to delete if off-topic.
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Yes, but… he got the TACO nickname for a reason. This administration has backed down and obeyed the courts on many things. Not enough! But many.
I think it remains to be seen how much they really care about this particular project.
My guess is that they probably just see an opportunity to use it as leverage, and they’ll reverse course whenever they can make some kind of “deal” they think they can brag about.
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The TACO principle is for big-ticket items that could cause worldwide repercussions and/or affect the oligarchs’ bank accounts - firing the Fed chief, 300% tariffs, bombing Iran, capturing Greenland…. And those are all active things.
For something regional and passive, the administration will stand its ground. Holding back money that should go towards building a tunnel literally means doing nothing, unlike the various things described above which would have required doing something.
In other words, the “CO” of “TACO” does not apply where there’s literally nothing to “chicken out” on.
1 Like
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/02/13/us/trump-news?smid=nytcore-ios-share
TACO proven right once again. Full federal funding will be restored
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I guess the Trump admin realized that they run a very real risk of losing spectacularly in the Appellate Court. The judges gave the administration a chance to build a case and appeal, and it seems every opportunity was thrown out (likely because they had no real legal grounds to pause funding).
Well, thankfully, it’s over, and work can resume.
Per MSN, funding is expected to be fully restored by next Tuesday. Work will not resume until they have cash on hand, and it is unknown what is to happen with the hearing on the 23rd, although I can assume that either the judge will issue a final ruling or take some other action.
As for the Portal Bridge, train service will be disrupted starting on Sunday, which is the official start of the month-long process of the cut-over and opening of the bridge for service.
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I’m not into appeasing anyone for political purposes, but they should just name the tunnels after him. what’s the current name South River Tunnels? metaphors aside, if they can name one after Lincoln, these can be named so that his narcism doesn’t delay this further.