{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=4C3B0CB7-F0AC-4E37-A0DE-09BD17CBE1AA", "Fischer, Colleagues Press Buttigieg on Grants Favoring New York City Rail Projects Over Rest of Country", "2023-10-20", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "NE", "Deb Fischer", "F000463", "www.fischer.senate.gov", "fischer", "https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Senators Express Concern Over Ballooning Costs, Excess Grant Funding for NY-NJ\n\nGateway Program\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, joined five fellow Republican committee members this month in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) pressing Secretary Pete Buttigieg about the decision-making behind certain grants to the Amtrak NY-NJ Gateway Program.\n\nIn the letter, the Senators asked the department to commit to giving fair consideration to the whole country for grants, rather than favoring the Northeast Corridor. The letter was led by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas).\n\n\u201cDOT\u2019s lack of transparency with Congress and potential misadministration of grant programs, particularly with respect to the billions of dollars in DOT funding for the Gateway Program, are deeply concerning. We request that you rectify the inadequate responses to our past letters,\u201d the Senators said.\n\nThe letter highlights the project\u2019s ballooning costs over the last decade from $13 billion (2012 estimate) to $37 billion (2022 estimate). In addition, the Senators requested the DOT provide a number of answers related to how the funding for the Hudson Tunnel project was awarded and how much could ultimately be awarded to the Gateway Program overall.\n\nIn addition to Senators Fischer and Cruz, the letter was signed by U.S. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), and Ted Budd (R-N.C.).\n\nRead the full letter here or below.\n\nWe write to follow up on letters to the Department of Transportation (DOT) earlier this year. In February, Senators Cruz, Thune, and Fischer sent a letter (\u201cthe February letter\u201d) asking the administrators of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) about those agencies\u2019 support and oversight of the Amtrak-New York-New Jersey Gateway Program (\u201cthe Gateway Program\u201d). In April, Republican senators of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation wrote asking you to amend funding notices for a major rail grant program that had been drafted to unfairly favor the Northeast and the Gateway Program to the detriment of projects elsewhere in the country (\u201cthe April letter\u201d).\n\nYou did not respond to the April letter, instead tasking the FRA administrator to respond. Moreover, the agency\u2019s responses failed to either fully answer the questions posed or commit to improving DOT\u2019s approach. DOT\u2019s lack of transparency with Congress and potential misadministration of grant programs, particularly with respect to the billions of dollars in DOT funding for the Gateway Program, are deeply concerning. We request that you rectify the inadequate responses to our past letters by personally answering this letter, and including (1) a description of how DOT will use its authorities to provide oversight and (2) the commitments that we have requested or an explanation why you are refusing to make those commitments.\n\nIn February 2022, Amtrak\u2019s Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report finding that Amtrak lacked a comprehensive framework to manage its commitments to the Gateway Program. Among other concerns, Amtrak lacked an integrated master schedule; a program management plan; and mechanisms to collect and provide information regarding the program\u2019s status, including its budget and schedule. The report indicated a risk to Amtrak\u2019s ability to \u201cmeet its commitments in scope, on time, and in budget,\u201d warning that \u201cassessments of prior complex construction and acquisition programs found that when [Amtrak] did not put this framework in place early enough, it experienced cost increases, schedule delays, and stress on its partner relationships as projects matured.\u201d\n\nDOT has awarded more than $8?billion in federal funding to the Gateway Program, despite the Amtrak OIG\u2019s serious concerns about potential cost overruns and schedule delays. Based on the latest estimates from the Gateway Development Commission, the nine projects that comprise the Gateway Program will cost $37?billion over the next 15 years. Grants that DOT has awarded to the Gateway Program include an unprecedent single grant of nearly $7 billion for the Hudson Tunnel project via a Capital Investment Grant (\u201cCIG\u201d), as well as:\n\n$91.5?million via a Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail (\u201cFed-State\u201d) grant for the Portal North Bridge and Substation 41, awarded May 2020;\n\n$766.5?million via a CIG for the Portal North Bridge, awarded January 2021;\n\n$45?million via a Fed-State grant for the Sawtooth Bridges, awarded August 2022;\n\n$292?million via a National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) grant for the Hudson Tunnel, awarded January 2023; and\n\n$25 million via a Local and Regional Project Assistance (RAISE) grant for the Tonnelle Avenue bridge and utility work (for the Hudson Tunnel), awarded June 2023.\n\nIn this period of historically high inflation, it is especially important that you be judicious with taxpayer dollars and resist political pressure to simply cut checks to this or any other project. Both the law and simple prudence demand a real evaluation of the huge cost estimates and verification that Gateway Program grantees have the capacity to deliver the planned infrastructure timely and on budget. The February letter inquired about the Gateway Program\u2019s budget and readiness, but DOT failed to respond meaningfully. For example, FRA stated it would employ a \u201crisk-based approach to targeted engagement\u201d with Amtrak, without indicating what aspects of the Gateway Program, if any, would get independent review. Awarding billions of taxpayer dollars to projects that Amtrak and other grantees may not be capable of delivering is financially irresponsible\u2014opening the door to fraud, waste, and abuse.\n\nThis recent string of awards reflects what appears to be a troubling effort to prioritize the Gateway Program above deserving projects elsewhere in the country. Indeed, your Department seems to be maximizing the funding for the Gateway Program in many grant programs, whether a good fit or not. As pointed out in the April letter, DOT and FRA manipulated the massive Fed-State grant program to ensure the absolute maximum amount of funding from the 2021 infrastructure law will go to the Northeast (and Gateway), effectively depriving projects from the rest of the country of the opportunity to compete for as much as $7?billion under that program. In his response, FRA Administrator Amit Bose refused to correct this.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:43:12Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.fischer.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news?ID=4C3B0CB7-F0AC-4E37-A0DE-09BD17CBE1AA"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6492251995950937, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}