Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested that federal funding could be pulled from New York if Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul continues to ignore the government’s termination of the state’s congestion pricing plan.
Although the Biden administration’s Transportation Department cleared the congestion deal last year, Duffy pulled federal approval for the program in February. The plan was supposed to be terminated by March 21, but Duffy granted Hochul a 30-day extension on Thursday.
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Hochul defied the termination order by filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration, however Duffy warned Thursday that her “refusal” to cooperate on congestion pricing and pipeline approvals could put federal funding for the Empire State in danger.
“Your refusal to end cordon pricing and your open disrespect towards the federal government is unacceptable,” Duffy wrote on X. “We will provide New York with a 30-day extension as discussions continue. Know that the billions of dollars the federal government sends to New York are not a blank check. Continued non-compliance will not be taken lightly.”
The congestion pricing plan places a $9 toll on drivers entering Lower Manhattan. Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) opposed the plan, characterizing it as “a disaster for working- and middle-class New Jersey commuters and residents who need or want to visit Lower Manhattan.” Murphy filed a lawsuit to oppose the plan.
In a letter to New York transportation officials ordering federal approval for the plan to be rescinded in February, Duffy described the congestion pricing as “backward and unfair.”
“Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes. But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways,” he wrote.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority believes otherwise and launched a lawsuit against the Trump administration to keep the toll plan in place. The MTA and Hochul have said that regardless of Duffy’s deadline, they will not turn off the toll cameras until they receive a court order directing them to do so.
“It’s mystifying that after four years and 4,000 pages of federally-supervised environmental review — and barely three months after giving final approval to the Congestion Relief Program — USDOT would seek to totally reverse course,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement when the lawsuit was announced.
KATHY HOCHUL LETS LOOSE ON TRUMP AFTER CONGESTION PRICING DISMISSAL
While Hochul is one of the congestion pricing plan’s most ardent defenders, she was initially skeptical of the toll tax before reversing course in the summer of 2024.
Hochul met with Trump directly earlier this month to lobby him for a change of heart regarding the toll plan. However, the president has not budged.