By Esra Tekin
ISTANBUL (AA) - US President Donald Trump told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last month he would lift his hold on billions of dollars in funding for a major New York infrastructure project if Schumer agreed to rename New York’s Penn Station and Washington’s Dulles International Airport after him.
Schumer quickly rejected the proposal, telling the president he lacked authority to approve such an unusual demand, CNN reported, citing two people familiar with the discussion.
Since that exchange, Trump has continued to block more than $16 billion for the long-planned Gateway Project, which would link New York and New Jersey through a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River.
The two states have since filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing in a complaint filed earlier this week that the funding freeze is illegal.
A spokesperson for Schumer declined to comment, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The commission overseeing the Gateway tunnel has warned that without the release of federal funding, construction could soon be halted and approximately 1,000 workers could be laid off.
In recent months, Trump sought to attach his name to the US Institute of Peace and, more controversially, to Washington’s Kennedy Center.