The Trump administration is sticking by its deadline for New York to finish congestion pricing — regardless of an settlement with the MTA that would preserve the toll cameras on till the autumn.
A US Division of Transportation spokesperson, in a submit on an X account, lambasted studies that the feds and MTA officers agreed to maintain the $9 tolls no less than briefly in place.
“This can be a full lie by the elitist New York liberal media, whose wealthy buddies love the thought of pricing poor individuals out of the town,” the submit reads.
“The reality is straightforward agreements on judicial timelines haven’t any bearing on the underlying deserves of our case or our place.”
The DOT’s posturing, made on an X account with roughly 500 followers, hints Trump administration officers will attempt to stress Gov. Kathy Hochul and the MTA as an alternative the court docket of public opinion.
In Manhattan federal court docket, nevertheless, the feds’ and the MTA’s respective legal professionals collectively penned a submitting detailing their settlement on a timetable that seemingly would delay a decide from making a choice on the case till the center of summer time, maybe even till October.
The letter states DOT officers didn’t dish on whether or not they’d take motion on April 20, the Trump administration’s deadline to finish congestion pricing.
However, crucially, the officers additionally mentioned that they had no plans “at current” on in search of an injunction to cease this system – probably leaving the door open for some future motion, the papers confirmed.
The DOT’s submit echoed the combative tone struck by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who set the April 20 deadline in a submit that accused Gov. Kathy Hochul of disrespect and threatened to chop off federal funding to the MTA.
“USDOT’s deadline for stopping toll assortment has not modified,” it mentioned. “Make no mistake – the Trump Administration and USDOT won’t hesitate to make use of each software at our disposal in response to non-compliance later this month.”
Duffy has been feuding with Hochul since he introduced in February that he would pull federal approval for the first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program.
The governor and MTA officers rapidly sued to halt Duffy’s transfer, prompting a weeks-long back-and-forth throughout which the transportation secretary has already delayed his deadline as soon as.
“The cameras are staying on,” a spokesperson for the governor informed The Put up.
Supply hyperlink