Trump admin threatens MTA funding over ‘flawed' safety reports after 2023 worker death
Molinaro, a former New York GOP congressman, demanded the agency submit a third safety and risk assessment, arguing the prior two reports were 'flawed' and threatening to cut funding if the transit authority fails to 'adequately' account for 'escalating risk trends.'
'I am disturbed by MTA's failure to reinforce safety measures following serious accidents—one resulting in the death of a transit worker,' Molinaro told The Post.
Advertisement
'Secretary [Sean] Duffy has said time and again, safety is USDOT's top priority, and we will not accept anything less than full accountability.'
Monilaro's demand follows the November 2023 death of flagger Hilarion Joseph, 57, after he was fatally struck by an uptown D train near the 34th Street-Herald Square station.
4 Marc Molinaro warned that he won't be asking for a fourth report if MTA fails to get the third one right.
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Advertisement
4 Hilarion Joseph was tragically killed by a train back in 2023.
Transport Workers Union Local 100
The MTA held a safety refresher for work crew members in response to Joseph's death, only to suffer a near-miss months later.
In June 2024, another flagger was hit by a F train at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street station in downtown Brooklyn, surviving despite severe head trauma.
A FTA audit has found that employees of New York City Transit (NYCT), a division of the MTA which operates the city's subways and buses, suffered 38 potential near-misses during 2023 alone — up from 24 such incidents in 2022 and 23 in 2021.
Advertisement
Between 2013 and 2020, by contrast, NYCT experienced just 25 potential near-misses.
4 The New York City Transit Rail Transit has had a sharp rise in near-misses over recent years.
Citizen
Under the Biden administration, the FTA began demanding that NYCT produce a 'comprehensive risk assessment' of its Roadway Worker Protection (RWP) program.
NYCT had presented its first safety risk assessment to the FTA in October 2024, then resubmitted a second one in January after the first got rejected.
Advertisement
The feds concluded that the reports failed to incorporate 2024 near-miss data as well as make proper risk calculations for worker exposure to danger, and did not properly classify overall risk.
'Internal audits conducted by NYCT over the last year … reveal numerous and recurring violations of critical RWP safety rules,' Molinaro told NYCT President Demetrius Crichlow Tuesday.
'These violations raise serious concerns that the procedures specifically designed to mitigate underlying safety risk are not being effectively implemented.'
Molinaro warned that NYCT will get one more chance to submit a proper report and that failure to do so would be viewed as a 'pattern or practice of serious safety violations.'
4 New York City's transit system has been bogged down by a number of safety issues.
James Keivom
'Failure … may lead FTA to take prompt enforcement actions …. including (1) directing NYCT to use Federal financial assistance to correct safety deficiencies; (2) withholding up to 25 percent of financial assistance … and (3) issuing restrictions or prohibitions as necessary and appropriate to
address unsafe conditions,' he warned.
The MTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
33 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Elon Musk Pledged to Start a Political Party. He Is Already Pumping the Brakes.
The billionaire Elon Musk is quietly pumping the brakes on his plans to start a political party, according to people with knowledge of his plans. Musk has told allies that he wants to focus his attention on his companies and is reluctant to alienate powerful Republicans by starting a third party that could siphon off GOP voters.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
White House personnel aide hanging a shingle
With help from Daniel Lippman and Daniel Desrochers FILLING THE SWAMP: A senior White House official is decamping for K Street — the first instance this year of a prominent aide to President Donald Trump leaving for a lobbying gig, your host scooped. — Trent Morse has been serving since January as deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Personnel, which vets candidates for thousands of roles across the federal government. His last day at the White House will be next week, after which Morse will launch his own lobbying shop, Morse Strategies. He will also partner with K Street heavy hitter Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a senior strategic adviser. — Morse is subject to a one-year cooling off period during which he's barred from lobbying the West Wing directly or representing any foreign entities. But he's free to cash in on his front-row seat in the administration by lobbying the rest of the executive branch right away or advising others lobbying the White House. — 'The president's hired some of the best people across the board,' Morse told PI. 'I'll be excited to be on the other side of that now, helping clients navigate it.' — 'There's not a department that I haven't become familiar with or gotten an understanding on how it works,' he said. 'And I think there's a lot of opportunity to help clients navigate the way this administration [works] and how quickly this administration works.' — White House chief of staff Susie Wiles spoke highly of Morse's new venture in an interview, calling him 'an important and integral part of the successes we've had.' A former lobbyist herself, Wiles told PI that clients are clamoring for 'some guidance about the process and some strategic … counsel' about decoding the Trump administration. 'And nobody is better able to do that' than Morse, she said. — Will Moschella, who co-leads Brownstein's government relations practice, echoed Wiles' assessment of Morse. 'He's going to provide what I think is going to be unrivaled insight into the way the president's team is thinking about issues,' he told PI. 'He's been in the middle of a lot of important debates, and knows a lot of the key players throughout the administration, particularly in the agencies, and he'll be helpful in providing those insights to our clients.' — This isn't Morse's first stint as a lobbyist. After stints at HHS, HUD and DOT during Trump's first term, Morse went to work at Wiles' former haunt Ballard Partners, before eventually joining her at Mercury Public Affairs. Morse has been working with Trump's team for the past year — first heading up external and GOP outreach for last year's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and then working for the transition team. Happy Tuesday and welcome to PI. What else is going on out there? Add me on Signal at caitlinoprysko.17 and email me at coprysko@ and you can add Daniel on Signal at danielbarnes.13 and email Daniel at dbarnes@ And follow us on X: @caitlinoprysko and @dnlbrns. ANOTHER ONE: 'Former White House cryptocurrency official Bo Hines is joining the digital assets giant Tether to advise on its U.S. strategy,' POLITICO's Declan Harty reports. Hines recently stepped down as the executive director of the White House's crypto council, which involved 'helping coordinate the passage of a landmark bill regulating so-called stablecoins, which are a type of crypto token pegged to assets like the U.S. dollar.' — 'Bo's appointment demonstrates our commitment to building a strong U.S.-based presence that spans across multiple sectors, starting with digital assets and expanding to new opportunities, including a deep focus on potential further investments in domestic infrastructure,' Tether's CEO Paolo Ardoino said in a statement. — Hines will serve as a strategic adviser for digital assets and U.S. strategy, according to the company, which offers one of the world's most popular stablecoins. FIRST IN PI — WESTERN DIGITAL OPENS D.C. OFFICE: Data storage giant Western Digital is standing up its first office in D.C. as the company looks to expand its lobbying footprint in the nation's capital. Western Digital is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard drives and semiconductors, which help meet the immense storage demands of data centers used by artificial intelligence companies. The Trump administration is pushing to ramp up construction of the centers as part of its bid for U.S. AI dominance. — The company has tapped Stacey Dion, the former head of global government affairs at Carlyle Group, to lead the new D.C. office. Dion most recently oversaw tax policy work at GE Aerospace, but she previously spent eight years with the Carlyle Group and with Boeing for nearly a decade before that. Before joining the private sector, Dion was an aide to former House GOP Leader John Boehner. — The chipmaker currently has just two outside firms on retainer — BGR Group and the Wessel Group — and has spent just $170,000 on federal lobbying so far this year. BROWNSTEIN TOUTS ACCESS TO TRUMP OFFICIALS IN CLIENT PITCH: As Brazil tries to fight off high tariffs from the Trump administration, the country's top business lobby is in the process of hiring a D.C. lobbying firm, and Brownstein is among the firms vying to get the business, according to a copy of a pitch deck, Lippman reports. — The pitch to the Brazilian National Confederation of Industry, or CNI, says that Brownstein has a proven record of successful outcomes for clients registered under FARA and that its goal is 'to execute a disciplined and proactive influence campaign that enables CNI – and your partners within the Brazilian government – to anticipate and shape policy.' It proposes a fee of $50,000 per month for an initial year-long engagement. — The firm says it has 'strong relationships with President Trump and the officials and agencies responsible for devising and implementing his tariff policies.' — The deck, dated Aug. 1, lists who in the administration the firm can get in front of, including the White House's Peter Navarro and Kevin Hassett, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and USTR Jamieson Greer. For its State Department contacts, it mistakenly says it can reach 'Jacob Herbert – Under Secretary for Economic Affairs (pending confirmation),' referring to Jacob Helberg. — But Navarro pushed back on the pitch deck's claims in a post on Substack today. 'You will NEVER darken my White House door,' he wrote. 'Don't want to trip on your slime.' — The Brazilian government hasn't hired any firms with connections to the Trump administration, according to a search of FARA records, so this effort may be a way to find an alternative way to influence the administration. — A spokesperson for Brownstein told PI that CNI asked them for a proposal a month ago but there's been no follow-up since. CNI didn't respond to a request for comment on the status of its hiring of a firm. LOOMING LARGE: 'Laura Loomer is all the talk in Washington, D.C. The right-wing influencer … touts herself as President Donald Trump's informal adviser and argues—not incorrectly—that she has more power than many people inside it,' Gabe Kaminsky writes for the Free Press. 'What that means, in practice, is mostly getting people fired who she believes are disloyal to the president.' — 'Inside the White House, though, some senior officials have had it with Loomer. They are increasingly suspicious of her true motives, and have speculated that what she says and does is influenced by lobbying firms and companies trying to advance their own interests, according to four White House officials and another Trump administration official.' ICYMI — A4A HIRES SUNUNU: Airlines for America, the preeminent lobby for the biggest commercial and cargo carriers in the U.S., has tapped former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu as the trade group's next president and CEO. The four-term governor would have been a top GOP recruit to run for an open Senate seat next year, but passed on the opportunity — despite a preemptive endorsement from Trump. — Sununu will replace A4A's longtime leader Nick Calio, who will stay on as CEO emeritus through the end of the year. Sununu will take the reins next month, and comes aboard at a critical moment for the aviation industry, which has been pushing hard for improvements to the nation's air traffic control infrastructure amid a surge of near misses on tarmacs and following January's deadly collision near Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. — The former governor also told POLITICO's Pavan Acharya that he's eager to work with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on ATC improvements, and supports Duffy's efforts to secure an extra $19 billion in funding for the initiative, on top of $12.5 billion that was included in the GOP reconciliation package. — Airlines for America, whose members include Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, as well as FedEx and UPS, has spent more than $2.8 million on lobbying through the first half of 2025, which has included advocacy on tariffs, credit card swipe fees, sustainable aviation fuel, airport security and more. ALFORD SPEAKS OUT: 'An antitrust lawyer who was dismissed last month from the Justice Department accused senior officials of cutting deals with favored lobbyists and undermining the independence of antitrust enforcement,' The Wall Street Journal's Dave Michaels reports. — 'Roger Alford, formerly the antitrust division's second-in-command, on Monday said two senior aides to Attorney General Pam Bondi had corrupted the department's typical law-enforcement process for dealing with antitrust lawsuits. The two senior officials were heavily involved in negotiating a proposed settlement in June that allowed Hewlett Packard Enterprise to acquire a competitor, Juniper Networks.' — 'Alford called on a federal court in San Jose, Calif., that is overseeing the Justice Department's proposed resolution to 'examine the surprising truth of what happened.'' He accused Bondi's chief of staff Chad Mizelle of 'favoring outside lawyers and lobbyists with whom he is friends,' per WSJ. 'Mizelle and another top aide to Bondi, Stanley Woodward, played significant roles in how the department settled with HPE and Juniper in June, Alford said.' DOJ and HPE both defended the settlement, and rejected Alford's claims. Jobs report — Christopher Kirchhoff is joining Scale AI as head of applied AI strategy and global security. He founded the Pentagon's Silicon Valley office and is a National Security Council and Google alum. — The National Association of Manufacturers is adding Ted Allen as senior director of corporate finance policy, Reagan Giesenschlag as director of chemicals, materials and sustainability policy and Kevin Doyle as director of international policy. Allen previously was vice president of policy and advocacy at the Society for Corporate Governance. Giesenschlag previously was director of government affairs at the Fertilizer Institute. Doyle previously was an international trade specialist at the Commerce Department. — Talia La Schiazza is joining Qualcomm as manager of policy and legal communications. She previously was policy comms manager at Intel and is a Burson alum. — Bishop Garrison has launched Orange Court Strategies. He most recently was vice president for policy with the Intelligence and National Security Alliance and is a Biden DoD alum. — Forrest Carman is joining Wharton Law as an associate working in the white collar defense and federal investigations practice. He is a Republican National Lawyers Association, America First Legal and House and Senate Judiciary alum. — Jodi Niehoff has joined Medical Alley as senior director of government affairs and communications. Niehoff was previously deputy state director for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.). — Adam Greenfield has rejoined Latham & Watkins as a partner in the intellectual property litigation practice. He previously was a partner at White & Case. — Gerardo Bonilla Chavez is joining The Century Foundation as director of government affairs. He previously was chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and was a 2024 Pritzker fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. — Andrew Knudsen is now a partner at McGuireWoods. He previously was an attorney at the Justice Department's Environmental Defense Section. — Maheen Haq is now a program and policy administrative assistant at the U.S. Council for International Business. She previously was at DGA Group. New Joint Fundraisers Cooper Ossoff Victory Fund (Sen. Jon Ossoff, Cooper for North Carolina, North Carolina Democratic Party - Federal, Georgia Federal Elections Committee) Friends of Hoan Huynh and Esther Kim Varet (Hoan for 9, Esther Kim Varet for Congress) Georgia Senate Victory 2026 (Sen. Jon Ossoff, DSCC) Jeffries Battleground Protection Fund (DCCC, Reps. Hakeem Jeffries,Josh Harder, Adam Gray, George Whitesides, Derek Tran, Dave Min, Jahana Hayes, Frank Mrvan, Jared Golden, Kristen McDonald Rivet, Don Davis, Nellie Pou, Gabe Vasquez, Dina Titus, Susie Lee, Steven Horsford, Tom Suozzi, Laura Gillen, Josh Riley, John Mannion, Marcy Kaptur, Emilia Sykes, Janelle Bynum, Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez, Eugene Vindman, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez) Ohio Grassroots Victory Fund (Friends of Sherrod Brown, Ohio Democratic Party - Federal, America Works Federal PAC, DSCC) Ohio Senate Victory 2026 (DSCC, Friends of Sherrod Brown) WARRIOR PAC (Ranger PAC, Special Operations for America) New PACs A NEW BIRMINGHAM PAC (Super PAC) Anti-Zionist America PAC (PAC) Bright Green (PAC) Common Sense Recovery Project (PAC) THE ETHIOPIAN WORLD FEDERATION, INCORPORATED HOUSE COMMITTEE (PAC) LIFE & LIBERTY PAC (Super PAC) Zeta Global Holdings Corp. Employee PAC (PAC) New Lobbying REGISTRATIONS C2 Strategies: Ultra Pcs Caresource Mission: Caresource Mission Cornerstone Government Affairs, Inc.: Accreditation Council For Graduate Medical Education Mehlman Consulting, Inc.: Harting, Inc. Sonoran Policy Group, LLC D/B/A Stryk Global Diplomacy, Formerly Known As Sonora: District Of Columbia Fire Fighters Association, Iaff Local 36 New Lobbying Terminations Ats Communications, Inc. (Dba Silbey Strategies) (Fka Ats Communications, Inc.): Trellisware Technologies Madison Government Affairs: City Of Del Rio And Val Verde County
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Even at the grocery store, Texas troopers don't let Democrats out of sight after walkout
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Democratic state Rep. Nicole Collier refused to come to the Texas state Capitol for two weeks. Now she won't leave, and fellow Democrats are joining her protest. Collier was among dozens of Democrats who left the state for the Democratic havens of California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York to delay the Republican-controlled Legislature's approval of redrawn congressional districts sought by President Donald Trump. When they returned Monday, Republicans insisted that Democrats have around-the-clock police escorts to ensure they wouldn't leave again and scuttle Wednesday's planned House vote on a new political map. But Collier wouldn't sign what Democrats called the 'permission slip' needed to leave the House chamber, a half-page form allowing Department of Public Safety troopers to follow them. She spent Monday night and Tuesday on the House floor, where she set up a livestream while her Democratic colleagues outside had plainclothes officers following them to their offices and homes. Dallas-area Rep. Linda Garcia said she drove three hours home from Austin with an officer following her. When she went grocery shopping, he went down every aisle with her, pretending to shop, she said. As she spoke to The Associated Press by phone, two unmarked cars with officers inside were parked outside her home. 'It's a weird feeling,' she said. 'The only way to explain the entire process is: It's like I'm in a movie.' The trooper assignments, ordered by Republican House Speaker Dustin Burrows, was another escalation of a redistricting battle that has widened across the country. Trump is pushing GOP state officials to tilt the map for the 2026 midterms more in his favor to preserve the GOP's slim House majority, and Democrats nationally have rallied around efforts to retaliate. Other Democrats join the protest House Minority Leader Gene Wu, from Houston, and state Rep. Vincel Perez, of El Paso, stayed overnight with Collier, who represents a minority-majority district in Fort Worth. On Tuesday, more Democrats returned to the Capitol to tear up the slips they had signed and stay on the House floor, which has a lounge and restrooms for members. Dallas-area Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez, called their protest a 'slumber party for democracy' and said Democrats were holding strategy sessions on the floor. 'We are not criminals,' Houston Rep. Penny Morales Shaw said. Collier said having officers shadow her was an attack on her dignity and an attempt to control her movements. Republican leader says Collier 'is well within her rights' Burrows brushed off Collier's protest, saying he was focused on important issues, such as providing property tax relief and responding to last month's deadly floods. His statement Tuesday morning did not mention redistricting and his office did not immediately respond to other Democrats joining Collier. 'Rep. Collier's choice to stay and not sign the permission slip is well within her rights under the House Rules,' Burrows said. Under those rules, until Wednesday's scheduled vote, the chamber's doors are locked, and no member can leave 'without the written permission of the speaker.' To do business Wednesday, 100 of 150 House members must be present. The GOP wants 5 more seats in Texas The GOP plan is designed to send five additional Republicans from Texas to the U.S. House. Texas Democrats returned to Austin after Democrats in California launched an effort to redraw their state's districts to take five seats from Republicans. Democrats also said they were returning because they expect to challenge the new maps in court. Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state Aug. 3, and Republican Gov. Greg Abbott asked the state Supreme Court to oust Wu and several other Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent. How officers shadowed Democratic lawmakers Democrats reported different levels of monitoring. Houston Rep. Armando Walle said he wasn't sure where his police escort was, but there was still a heightened police presence in the Capitol, so he felt he was being monitored closely. Some Democrats said the officers watching them were friendly. But Austin Rep. Sheryl Cole said in a social media post that when she went on her morning walk Tuesday, the officer following her lost her on the trail, got angry and threatened to arrest her. Garcia said her 9-year-old son was with her as she drove home, and each time she looked in the rearview mirror, she could see the officer close behind. He came inside a grocery store where she shopped with her son. 'I would imagine that this is the way it feels when you're potentially shoplifting and someone is assessing whether you're going to steal," she said. ___ Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas, and Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
