At press time, the Gateway project remained shut down. The Gateway Development Commission, in response to the favorable court ruling, stated: “GDC is pleased with the court’s decision today. We thank our partners in New York and New Jersey for taking action to help us access the federal funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project. We are hopeful this means funding disbursements will resume soon, and we can restart site operations and get our workers back on the job.”

Widespread media reports said the Trump Administration would consider restarting the Gateway project funding if Congress agreed to rename Penn Station and Dulles Airport with president’s name. The states of New York and New Jersey filed suit in U.S. District Court on Feb. 3 against the federal government’s funding pause.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand quickly fired back, “This is ridiculous. These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers. At a time when New Yorkers are already being crushed by high costs under the Trump tariffs, the president continues to put his own narcissism over the good-paying union jobs this project provides and the extraordinary economic impact the Gateway tunnel will bring. I demand that the president put people first and unfreeze this project and all the others his administration has been holding hostage for his personal gain.”

The states of New York and New Jersey asked the court to declare the funding suspension unlawful and order the immediate resumption of payments so construction could continue. U.S. District Court Judge Vargas in her ruling stated in granting the temporary restraining order she had reviewed the evidence and concluded that they would succeed on the merits of their claim and would also suffer irreparable harm if the injunction were not granted.