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| Schumer's Losing This One |
| 2017-08-12 |
| [WeeklyStandard]. On November 12, 2015, officials in New York and New Jersey thought they had struck it rich. They had arranged a 50-50 deal with the federal government in which the feds would pay for half the cost of a new tunnel under the Hudson River, the renovation of Penn Station, and a lot more. An announcement said the “new federal commitment” included creation of a “development corporation to leverage billions in federal grant and loan funding.” With the estimated cost of the project now at $29 billion, that would mean $14.5 billion coming from Washington. The government loans would come on top of that. The corporation is known as the Gateway Project. A half-dozen ecstatic officials were quoted in the announcement. Anthony Foxx, then Transportation secretary in the Obama administration, declared himself “ready to roll up my sleeves and use all the tools at my disposal to move this critical project forward.” But there was less to the announcement than met the eye. The agreement was not signed into law. It wasn’t binding. No contract obligating the parties was signed. The “commitment” to share costs evenly was merely an expression of intentions. The announcement itself was all that existed—a press release. Foxx never had to roll up his sleeves. From the Trump administration, the agreement gets less respect. It’s beginning to be seen as a giveaway program to two of America’s wealthiest states. Neither President Trump nor Department of Transportation officials have endorsed the 50-50 arrangement, nor are they expected to. The officials scoured DoT files in search of documents that might spell out any obligations they have. No such documents have been found. The New York and New Jersey crowd isn’t happy. They were alarmed when Transportation secretary Elaine Chao quit the Gateway board as a potential conflict of interest. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and New Jersey senator Cory Booker have lobbied her. They got nowhere, but Cuomo at least got along well with the secretary (in contrast with Schumer). She told them they’d have to wait for Trump’s decision this fall on his heralded infrastructure initiative. That comes first. More at the link |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #5 The 'Design and Implementation' teams will end up being mostly filled with unqualified appointees and 'diversity' folks, having little knowledge about scheduling, budgets or actual construction. No, no, no! That was the TSA and IRS. This will be different. [sarc off] |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-08-12 07:35 |
| #4 What gorb said. The 'Design and Implementation' teams will end up being mostly filled with unqualified appointees and 'diversity' folks, having little knowledge about scheduling, budgets or actual construction. The total scale on these projects is so huge that Boston's experiment would look cost-saving and efficient in comparison. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2017-08-12 07:26 |
| #3 See if Schumer is more interested in power games or a 'deal' in the interests of tens of thousands of union jobs (and Donk party funding). Any 'deal' should be like funding for the Army, done on a year to year process. Pass the popcorn. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2017-08-12 03:32 |
| #2 Don't do it! |
| Posted by: gorb 2017-08-12 02:44 |
| #1 NY's answer to Boston's Big Dig - ha ha ha! |
| Posted by: Raj 2017-08-12 00:50 |