Gateway Tunnel Funding Must Be Released

President Trump told Chuck Schumer that he would release congressionally mandated funding for critical infrastructure if multiple national airports were renamed after Trump. The Gateway Tunnel Project is one of the most critical transportation assets in the United States. The existing Hudson River rail tunnels are more than a century old, were damaged by Hurricane Sandy, and operate without redundancy. Failure of a single tunnel would cripple the Northeast Corridor. It is a commuter tunnel and also a national intercity rail spine. If they fail, hundreds of thousands of commuters would be stranded for weeks or months. Failure would disrupt emergency response and inflict severe economic damage across multiple states. The potential danger to human lives due to a collapse is incalculable. This essential national asset has become part of a blackmail scheme, offered for release if Schumer supports renaming Washington Dulles International Airport and New York's Penn Station after Trump. Schumer has no authority to rename airports in Pennsylvania or Texas. The extortion, however, is profoundly repugnant. • It involves the illegal withholding of congressionally appropriated funds. • It knowingly endangers lives and regional stability by delaying critical infrastructure. • It treats public safety as leverage for personal glorification. • It attempts coercion without lawful authority. • It trivializes governance by reducing the exercise of public power to a mob boss extortion threat. Your oath to support the U.S. Constitution is particularly relevant here. Congress has the funding authority and presidential withholding is illegal. Your oath to defend against enemies does not specify "foreign" enemies; in any event the Constitution applies. While I personally believe the essential function of your oath is to protect the citizens, the words are enough to indicate this clearly impacts your duty to uphold the Constitution. Please counter this abuse strongly, directly, publicly, and repeatedly. Get those tunnels replaced, as authorized by Congress.