In the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election, a number of measures approved by the Biden administration are at risk, following the president-elect’s past statements and agenda. Among them is the Chips and Science Act, which allocates $53 billion to fund the semiconductor industry in the US. Locally, New York State accessed this funding to build a Micron plant in the Syracuse area, which, when completed, could bring 50,000 new jobs. Governor Kathy Hochul had a “cordial” and “very productive” phone call with Trump.
“I reiterated,” the Democratic governor said at the end of a press conference at a political event in Somos, Puerto Rico, ”that there are areas where we can work together, such as infrastructure, for which we rely on federal funds and [Trump] seems to share my priorities.”
On the subject of infrastructure, Hochul reportedly spoke with Trump about the importance of federal funds for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The newly elected president merely agreed with the governor, without adding more, from what she reported.
The MTA has about $14 billion in funding at stake, needed to cover Penn Station renovations at 34th Street and the subway extension along Second Avenue in East Harlem.
There is an even more relevant and divisive issue: congestion pricing–the $15 toll to enter Midtown Manhattan approved by the MTA chairman, suspended before it went into effect by Hochul herself, and strongly criticized by Trump. “I will end it within the first week back in office!”, Trump wrote on his social media last May. In June, the governor had justified this postponement by claiming she wanted to change the tolls because they were too high.
Hochul is reportedly considering activating the toll before Trump takes office in the White House, according to Politico, which interviewed three sources inside the federal Department of Transportation. “[The governor] is asking for a change from $15 to $9,” the newspaper writes, ”but no official request has yet come from New York. However, come Nov. 9, Hochul may run out of time to retract the terms of congestion pricing: after comparing and agreeing on new terms, a 60-day review period is required, and Trump’s inauguration in the White House is 74 days away.
Supportive residents are urging the governor to enact the congestion pricing terms as is – it took MTA years, even before Hochul was elected, to arrive at this compromise by climate experts and DOT officials.
If this measure were to go into effect before the Trump administration takes office, the New York Times explains that new president could seek to revoke its approval, but would have to go to a federal court to undo it altogether.
