What Trump Has Said About NYC Congestion Pricing
Warning sign that Enforcement Zone is ahead on 11th Avenue in New York City indicates that vehicles will be entering the congestion relief zone, or CRZ. Deb Cohn-Orbach—UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Credit - Deb Cohn-Orbach—UCG/Universal Images Group
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration moved to end New York's congestion pricing on Wednesday, just one month after the program had been rolled out.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy delivered the news in a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, rescinding the approval of the program. The decision rolled back a previous agreement between Hochul and the agency for the Value Pricing Pilot Program (VPPP) that charged drivers tolls for coming into Manhattan.
"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!' The White House posted on X on Wednesday accompanied by an image of Trump wearing a crown on a fake TIME-inspired magazine cover.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) called the program 'unprecedented' in scope and cited the lack of a toll-free option for drivers as the reason for its impending termination. Duffy also said that since the toll rate was chosen to increase revenue for transportation as opposed to reducing congestion, the 'pilot runs contrary to the purpose of the VPPP.'
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy thanked President Trump and Secretary Duffy in a statement Wednesday, but Gov. Hochul indicated that legal action against the President is already in motion. 'We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king,' she said on X in response.
Here's what to know.
The VPPP was first approved by lawmakers in 2019, but proponents had to wait for a federal environmental review. The program was later approved by the Biden Administration last year, on Nov. 21, but congestion pricing did not officially begin until Jan. 5.
The initial summer rollout of the program was paused in June due to concerns about the toll's impact on the local economy. A revised version of congestion pricing lowered the toll from $15 to $9.
Under congestion prices, drivers are charged $9 when they enter Manhattan's Congestion Relief Zone, which falls below 60th Street, between 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays. That means that drivers traveling through the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro bridges, and the Holland, Hugh L. Carey, and Queens Midtown tunnels, will have to pay the higher toll price.
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The Federal Highway Administration said Wednesday that it would work with the leaders behind the project to oversee an 'orderly termination of the tolls,' though the timeline for that is unclear.
In response, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday to keep the program in place. 'It's mystifying that after four years and 4,000 pages of federally-supervised environmental review—and barely three months after giving final approval to the Congestion Relief Program—USDOT would seek to totally reverse course,' said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber in a statement on X.
Hochul said the first-in-the nation program has already benefitted the city's transportation system, pointing to faster commute times, greater 'foot traffic' to local businesses, and an increase in yellow cab trips. Public transportation ridership has also increased, Hochul said in a statement on X.
'Congestion pricing is a meticulously studied, globally-proven program that is enshrined in New York State law,' said Julie Tighe, President of the NY League of Conservation Voters. 'We need the federal government to be a partner in solving congestion pricing, not a roadblock. New Yorkers deserve relief from traffic, better transit, and cleaner air—we will keep fighting for it every day.'
Congestion pricing has been subject to lawsuits before by neighboring New Jersey, which sought to stop the program because it placed an unfair burden on its residents. Murphy wrote to Trump—who had promised to end congestion pricing on the campaign trail—on his first day in office, asking the President to give congestion pricing the 'close look it deserved.'
Read More: President Trump Suggests He's Above the Law in Social Media Post Invoking Napoleon
But others have expressed skepticism at whether the President can actually stop congestion pricing. Congressman Jerry Nadler, a Democrat from New York, criticized the Department of Transportation, arguing that the agency bears no authority to pause the program. 'The Value Pricing Program is solidly established under federal law, and its approval cannot be arbitrarily revoked, especially when it is clearly delivering tangible benefits,' Nadler said on X on Wednesday. 'Mr. President, we'll see you in court.'
The MTA called the Administration's decision to terminate the program unlawful, arguing that the Trump Administration took action without an environmental review on the effects of pausing VPPP. 'If FHWA had the right to unilaterally terminate a VPPP program that had already been approved and implemented, it would create uncertainty around the future of such programs any time leadership at FHWA, USDOT, or the White House changed—uncertainty that may make it difficult to issue bonds for other projects and would clearly undermine the purposes of the VPPP,' the legal complaint says.
Contact us at letters@time.com.
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The agency had summoned Cristian, a boyish teenager with bright eyes and a patchy goatee, for a regular 'check-in.' He had reported for check-ins twice previously without incident—most recently in February—since he crossed the Texas border illegally in April 2021. Cristian moved to the U.S. to escape violence in Honduras, he says, settling with his father and stepmother in Slidell, La. 'Where I lived was full of gangs,' he says. 'They would make the minors join the gang or be killed.' Shortly after he crossed the border, he hired a lawyer, who asked a judge to designate Cristian a Special Immigrant–Juvenile. He had been abandoned by his mother in Honduras, his attorney says, and needed to live with his father in the U.S. The judge approved the petition and granted Cristian four years of 'deferred action from removal,' providing a reprieve from deportation at least until 2027. 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Just after dawn on May 29, the swish of chains dragging on asphalt was loud enough to be heard over idling engines. Roughly 70 men shuffled across the tarmac toward a chartered jet that would take them to Nicaragua. Before boarding, guards patted each down, looking for hidden weapons, unlocking and relocking their restraints, and directing them to make the awkward ascent up the stairs to the plane. One of the men, wearing a black hoodie, shook the chains around his wrists at a guard and said, 'Como perros! Como perros!' (Like dogs.) Once the detainees were on board, agents brought in a van with dozens of women, also manacled, to board next. Then came the only migrants without chains: family units. A woman with her teenage son got on first, followed by a woman with her young daughter. By the time the flight lifted off, there were 118 passengers on board. Whether Cristian will end up on one of these planes isn't yet clear. In May he was let out of Jena on a $4,000 bond. He is due back in immigration court in New Orleans on Sept. 2 to find out whether he will be sent back to Honduras or can remain in the U.S. with his father. The deportation chain in Louisiana exemplifies a nationwide operation that is redefining American immigration policy, legally and morally. The fallout is reaching far beyond those who entered the country without permission. Law-enforcement officials have snatched foreign students off the street for engaging in speech the Administration doesn't like. Trump has revoked student visas and put foreign students into deportation proceedings without warning. 'A visa is a gift,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on March 28. 'No one is entitled to a visa.' Trump is targeting younger children too. His attorneys have argued in federal court that he should be allowed to ignore the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship for those born in the U.S. and terminate the rights of children born to parents who were in the country illegally. The President has cut federal funding to social-service nonprofits that offer legal representation to people facing deportation to ensure their cases are fairly decided. 'The very idea of deporting a child without a lawyer should be unthinkable in America,' says Jojo Annobil, the CEO of the Immigrant Justice Corps. Perhaps no other issue has crystallized criticism of Trump's immigration agenda like the deportation of Venezuelan nationals to El Salvador. Like many of Trump's policies, it came about through a series of conversations, rather than a conventional legal process. On the campaign stump, Trump occasionally castigated Bukele, the Salvadoran President, for sending MS-13 gang members to the U.S. Trump ally and former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, one of Bukele's biggest American fans, told Trump that this wasn't true. Bukele was the most popular leader in Latin America, he told Trump, and attacking him wasn't going to help win over the Hispanic voters Trump was courting. When Gaetz visited El Salvador for Bukele's second inauguration last summer, he and Bukele discussed the idea of the Salvadorans holding some of the migrants whom Trump planned to deport if he won. When Gaetz returned, he tells TIME, he brought the idea to Trump and his team. Shortly after taking office, Trump directed Rubio to cut a deal with Bukele, two senior White House officials say. Rubio came back with an offer in hand, according to U.S. officials: $20,000 per prisoner for a year. There were wrinkles in the deal. 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InStride Redefines Workforce Development Through Strategic Expansion
Empowering businesses with strategic education and skilling solutions that unlock career advancement and organizational impact LOS ANGELES, June 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- InStride, a leading provider of strategic education and skilling solutions, today announced continued growth, accelerated by its new and transformative approach to workforce development. Recently named by TIME and Statista as one of the World's Top EdTech Companies of 2025, InStride has advanced its offerings to address critical talent challenges through education and skilling solutions designed to be career-aligned, industry-relevant, and tailored to its corporate partners' needs. In partnership with some of the most influential organizations in the Fortune 250, InStride provides nearly one million eligible employees access to over 2,500 education opportunities, helping prevent $73 million in student loan debt to date. 'Education benefits have come a long way from basic tuition reimbursement,' said Craig Maloney, CEO of InStride. 'We've reimagined them as strategic levers for HR teams to attract and retain talent, upskill their workforce, fill critical roles, and ensure their people are ready for what's next. Over the past six years, we've built programs that address such challenges and have seen the difference they can make for people and businesses alike.' Each of the following innovations was designed to make strategic education solutions more relevant, flexible, and effective—for the people using them and the companies supporting them. Award-winning, expanded offerings A broader, more flexible learning networkGone are the days of a one-size-fits-all workforce development. InStride's expanding portfolio of 2,500+ educational offerings with leading universities, such as Arizona State University, creates flexible pathways aligned with workforce demands. Formats include English-language programs, specialized healthcare certifications, and stackable credentials, all tailored to how people learn and grow. Career Education PathsInStride's award-winning Career Education Paths connect learning directly to career outcomes, increasing program completion rates. Honored by Fast Company and EdTech Breakthrough Awards, these structured paths are designed using Lightcast to map learning to 40+ specific roles across technology, healthcare, and corporate services. The result: higher engagement and a reliable pipeline of skilled talent. Dependent education benefitsInStride enables businesses to extend education benefits to employees' dependents. This allows employees at participating companies to use their benefits for spouses and children who gain access to career-aligned courses, certifications, and degrees, which enhances employee loyalty and retention as workers feel a deeper commitment to companies investing in their families. In turn, dependent benefits create a ripple effect beyond the workplace, helping to uplift communities by expanding access to education and opportunity for future generations. Supporting a skills-first approachInStride helps companies build talent strategies grounded in employee skills and capabilities. This includes helping companies identify the skills needed for key roles, map career paths, and uncover gaps between the skills employees have and the ones their businesses need. With that foundation in place, companies can make more informed hiring and promotion decisions—and use targeted learning programs to help employees build the skills to grow into critical roles. Pioneering, scalable, customizable solutions Hybrid clinical cohortsHealthcare systems can't rely solely on external hiring. InStride's hybrid clinical cohorts address staffing shortages in healthcare by combining online coursework with in-hospital training. With structured learning models to boost completion rates, they create pathways to in-demand roles like medical assistants, surgical technologists, and clinical lab specialists. This empowers employers to develop talent from within, which has proven to reduce staffing shortages and improve career mobility for existing employees. Industry-first franchise workforce education modelInStride's hub-and-spoke franchise education model allows franchisees to opt into and manage corporate education programs while customizing them for their workforce, providing centralized tracking and reporting tools for improved oversight. This balance between corporate structure and local flexibility helps franchise businesses retain and develop talent while maintaining a consistent workforce strategy. This approach has delivered impressive results, with over 50% of franchisees at one partner adopting the program in its first year and achieving a one-third higher retention rate for participating employees compared to non-participants. Custom solutions for accelerated capability buildingTo help businesses build specialized professional skill sets, InStride introduced Capability Accelerators, which provide custom academies tailored for specific roles including first-line managers, manufacturing and healthcare leaders; cohort-based learning with applied, real-world training featuring expert coaching and AI-enhanced tools; and university-backed content that blends academic insights with practical, job-relevant learning. 'We remain committed to building solutions that meet real workforce needs,' said Craig Maloney, CEO of InStride. He says of the company's future development: 'We're now investing more in AI that truly transforms individual careers and organizational success. We always start with our partners' business goals in mind—and by intelligently analyzing employee data like job roles, skills, and aspirations, we're better able to connect talent to the right education opportunities and personalized coaching support. That precision is what drives meaningful outcomes.'InStride solves corporate talent challenges with strategic education and skilling solutions. By breaking down barriers to learning, fostering career growth aligned with organizational goals, and simplifying program management, InStride delivers lasting impact. Partnering with forward-thinking companies like Labcorp, Adidas, and SSM Health, InStride drives meaningful social and business outcomes by providing access to life-changing education. Visit or follow InStride on LinkedIn for more information and up-to-date news. ContactSophia Puglisi, Communications Manager at InStride, 805-889-6273Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
