ROOKE: Trump To Deliver Kill Shot To Schumer’s Billion Dollar Left-Wing Program In Push To End Shutdown Battle

When Democrats blocked a Republican-passed continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government funded, they are unlikely to have considered the reality of granting unprecedented executive powers to President Donald Trump.

Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” that Democrats’ decision to shut down the government was a “mistake” because it gave him the power to gut their pet projects without impunity. He has his eyes on a multibillion-dollar project that is close to the heart of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

The government shutdown, dubbed the Schumer Shutdown, was triggered on October 1 when Democrats refused to vote for the funding bill unless Republicans gave in to demands to renew expiring premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. Democrats appear to have acted short-sighted, as their decision gave Trump the executive power, via impound authority, to begin eliminating left-wing programs funded by taxpayer dollars. (Subscribe to Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)

While talking with Bartiromo about the Democratic “No Kings” rally in Washington, which Schumer is expected to attend and speak, Trump announced he would kill a $20 billion project that Schumer has fought for for years.

“Well, Chuck is, you know, at the end of the line. He’s being beaten by everyone who polls against him,” Trump said. “And you know, what he did was he did the right thing a few years ago on something like this. And he was hurt by his party. And that’s not the case…I don’t think that matters to him. I think he’s so dead he’ll do anything.”

“We’re killing a $20 billion project that Schumer fought for 15 years, and I’m killing that project. The project is going to be dead. It’s basically dead right now,” Trump added.

The project Trump is referring to in the interview is the Gateway program, according to Fox News.

Schumer has been fighting for the Gateway program since at least 2012, following the cancellation of its predecessor, the Regional Core Access (ARC) Tunnel project, in October 2010. The program is a multibillion-dollar infrastructure initiative aimed at expanding and modernizing rail capacity along a critical 10-mile segment of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) between Newark, New Jersey and New York Penn Station. It focuses primarily on building new rail tunnels under the Hudson River to complement the century-old North River Tunnels, replacing aging bridges such as the Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River, and improving Amtrak and NJ Transit service.

The project was marred by setbacks due to uncontrolled government overreach, with costs far exceeding initial estimates due to bureaucratic inefficiency, over-engineering and unnecessary additions. The project’s price tag has risen from about $13.5 billion in 2011 to potentially $42 billion for full implementation, including items such as Penn Station extensions that critics say are not essential to repairing the main tunnel.

Under the Biden administration, Schumer finally received the funding needed in 2021 to advance Gateway through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which provided billions for NEC upgrades. However, by 2025, tunneling had still not started. When the “Schumer shutdown” began, $18 billion was withheld due to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies, with Trump declaring that the Hudson Tunnel project had ended. (Democrats make serious miscalculations that could give away GOP Senate seat)

Democrats continue to hold the federal government hostage, leaving millions of Americans without federal support and public workers, like the U.S. military, without pay. But their decision to give Trump unprecedented leverage allows him to eliminate unwanted left-wing programs, like Gateway. Targeting a project that Schumer is fighting for is a tactical move that ultimately highlights how the Democrats’ blocking strategy is allowing Trump to force him and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries back into negotiations.

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