Trump Withholds $16B Gateway Funding Unless Hubs Named After Him
President Donald Trump conditioned the release of over $16 billion in frozen federal funding for New York’s Gateway Tunnel project on Senator Chuck Schumer’s agreement to rename Penn Station and Dulles International Airport after Trump, according to Punchbowl News. Schumer rejected the demand, stating he lacked authority to rename the transportation hubs. This follows Trump’s pattern of demanding Penn Station and other infrastructure be renamed after himself in exchange for federal resources.
Trump has leveraged his position to encourage Republicans and allies to rename the Kennedy Center, a fleet of battleships, and the Institute of Peace in his honor since returning to office. By conditioning critical infrastructure funding on naming concessions, Trump has weaponized federal resources to advance personal branding. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand characterized the demand as Trump prioritizing “his own narcissism over the good-paying union jobs” the Gateway Project provides and called for the immediate unfreezing of all withheld projects.
Trump froze Gateway and Second Avenue subway funding in October under the pretext of reviewing DEI policy compliance, but officials warned the projects were rapidly depleting remaining resources. New York Representative Jerry Nadler labeled Trump’s naming condition as “extortion” and demanded immediate funding release. The Gateway Project’s oversight group filed a lawsuit seeking to compel the administration to release millions in construction payments as funding deadlines approached.
Democratic lawmakers condemned Trump’s extortion attempt as evidence of egregious abuse of executive authority. California Representative Eric Swalwell and Maryland Representative April McClain Delaney criticized the demand as demonstrating a complete lack of leadership on infrastructure competitiveness and national security. Governor Kathy Hochul’s office responded with an AI-generated image renaming Trump Tower to “Hochul Tower,” mocking the president’s narcissism.
Trump’s pattern of converting federal infrastructure into personal brand assets violates the public trust and institutional norms governing federal funding allocation. By withholding critical transportation upgrades unless officials agree to personalize federal property, Trump subordinates national infrastructure priorities to his self-enrichment agenda, demonstrating the systematic institutional capture characteristic of his authoritarian governance.