NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — President Donald Trump, a longtime opponent of New York City’s congestion pricing toll, said that he is looking to “terminate” the tax in a Truth Social post made on Monday, which included various other criticisms of Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“New York City is getting KILLED by her ridiculous CONGESTION PRICING, where people have to pay a fortune to come into Manhattan - So they just don’t come! The place is a ghost town,” the president wrote.
Trump said that he would ask Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to look at terminating the plan, which went into effect on Jan. 5 and charges most passenger vehicles $9 to enter Lower Manhattan during peak hours.
Duffy has repeatedly taken shots at the tax, setting several deadlines for New York to shut down its cameras—all of which were ignored after the MTA won an injunction in the spring that said he could not threaten to withhold federal funding for future infrastructure projects.
The transportation secretary has also slammed the tax’s effectiveness in improving the city's mass transit system through the additional funding, requesting this summer a variety of information on the MTA's safety and security.
“The entire State is going to hell, so the Federal Government will, of necessity, get involved!,” Trump said.
The president also wrote that Hochul is “killing the entire region with Energy Prices that are OUT OF CONTROL,” referring to the failed Northeast Supply Enhancement project, which would have expanded a Williams Companies national gas pipeline to increase capacity in the NYC area.
According to Trump, Connecticut residents, Gov. Ned Lamont and those in New England are “REALLY ANGRY AT HER.”