Governor Mikie Sherrill made the following comments on the latest release of Gateway Tunnel Project funding during media availability in Flemington, NJ, on the morning of Wednesday, February 18, 2026:

Q: Can you give us an update on the latest with the Gateway situation? Has money started flowing?

A: Yes. As you know, this is a project that had about 1,000 people already employed. It could lead to almost 100,000 jobs in the region. It has a huge economic impact of about $20 billion. And this is an area of the country responsible for about 20% of the nation’s GDP. So really, a huge jobs and economic driver. Not to mention the 200,000 commuters that take the tunnel every day to fuel a lot of business throughout the region.

So, the fact that the President of the United States, who, you know, has some pretty big economic and jobs challenges that he’s facing, would then further hit the economy like this, was bewildering and illegal. We took him to court because I care deeply about jobs and the economy, even if the federal government doesn’t seem to. So, I took him to court: we won. He fought it again: we won. We have seen the funds released and he continues to remain in court – but we’re just seeing again and again that what he’s doing is illegal. And the worst part about it is now, he’s probably cost the project, which was on time and on budget, millions of dollars by halting all this work. He’s put a lot of workers at risk, who had to go home and tell their family they think they’re out of a job, who worried about their healthcare. As you know, any delay in healthcare, especially if you have some sick kids, and I was speaking to some workers who did, it’s all really horrible hits. Every single time Trump gets involved, the only person who seems to be making any money is him, at the expense of workers across the country.