President Donald Trump told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer he would consider restoring funding for the Hudson River Tunnel project if lawmakers backed renaming at least two transit hubs after him, three sources confirmed to the New York Daily News.
In the course of negotiations over the project in recent weeks, sources told the Daily News, Trump said he’d cease his interference with the congressionally approved funding if Schumer would back moves to name Dulles International Airport and New York Penn Station after him.
The attempted legacy laundering was first reported Thursday night by Punchbowl News. The White House could not be immediately reached for comment.
One thousand construction workers are set to lose jobs on the tunnel project this weekend as construction winds down for lack of funds.
The Trump administration announced it would no longer distribute billions in congressionally approved funds to the Gateway Development Corp. in October during the first day of the federal government shutdown, citing a need to ensure the project was in compliance with contracting rules that the feds had changed just hours before.
But weeks later, as Gateway officials demonstrated compliance, the Trump administration shifted gears. White House spokesman Kush Desai claimed the funding freeze was over the fact that Democratic lawmakers had supposedly not been “prioritizing the interests of Americans over illegal aliens.”
This isn’t the first time naming Penn after Trump has come up. Last year, after the federal government took over the redesign of Penn Station, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy floated the idea of naming the station after his boss.
The move comes as Trump has gone on a naming spree, adding his own name to the Kennedy Center and the Institute for Peace.
Sources told the Daily News that Schumer regarded the offer as a nonstarter.
