President Donald Trump promised to kill congestion-pricing tolls, yet his minions just agreed to a deal likely to keep them in place at least until October. What gives?
In court papers, the MTA and the federal Transportation Department signed off on a timeline that’ll prevent Judge Lewis Liman, who’s presiding over the legal battle over the Manhattan tolls, from ruling before summer.
After that, Liman will need more time to resolve legal motions, likely dragging out the case until at least October.
Until then, Trump’s folks promised not to seek an injunction to halt the program.
Huh?
A delay until October — and maybe longer — seems a clear win for Gov. Kathy Hochul and a loss for Trump.
On the campaign trail, Trump blasted the tolls as a “disaster” and vowed to end them his first week.
In February, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy gave Hochul a hard March 21 deadline to scrap them.
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD, Manhattan,” Trump boasted on social media at the time, “and all of New York is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
Yet when Hochul flipped Trump a bird, saying she’d ignore the deadline unless a court ordered otherwise, Duffy buckled and gave her an extra month — even while escalating his threat: “Your refusal to end cordon pricing,” he roared, “is unacceptable.”
Any additional failure to comply “will not be taken lightly.”
Now it appears the case won’t be resolved until at least the fall, with tolls squeezing another $50 million a month from drivers in the meantime.
So not only is congestion not killed, but Albany is now secretly negotiating yet another tax hike to funnel even more money to the never-satisfied MTA.
True, a DOT flack tweeted out some bluster, insisting the April 20 deadline remains in effect and the agency will “use every tool at our disposal in response to non-compliance.”
But what tools do they have left after kicking the court-fight can into the fall?
It sure seems like Duffy’s staff is unsure if he has legal authority to stop the toll program.
Which raises the $50 million-a-month question: What will happen on April 20?
Will the tolls remain, as Hochul vows, or will Duffy find a way to make good on Trump’s promises?
OK: Maybe Team Trump is simply stalling on lowering the boom while the prez and the gov negotiate; perhaps she’ll offer concessions on other fronts (e.g., OK’ing new natural-gas pipelines and/or fracking) in exchange for letting the tolls remain.
But if Hochul stands pat and the tolls stick around, the prez loses credibility.
So: Say it ain’t so, Mr. President — or, better yet, prove it.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
