Latest news with #DepartmentsofTransportation
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
California sues over Trump policy tying transportation grants to immigration
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed two lawsuits on Tuesday challenging a Trump administration policy that would deny the state billions of dollars in transportation grants unless it follows the administration's lead on immigration enforcement. 'Let's be clear about what's happening here," Bonta said in a statement. "The President is threatening to yank funds to improve our roads, keep our planes in the air, prepare for emergencies, and protect against terrorist attacks if states do not fall in line with his demands." "He's treating these funds, which have nothing to do with immigration enforcement and everything to do with the safety of our communities, as a bargaining chip," Bonta added. Read more: A sanctuary law aimed to 'Trump-proof' California on immigration. What has it accomplished? The lawsuits, filed with a coalition of states against the Departments of Transportation and Homeland Security, argue that imposing the new set of conditions across a broad range of grant programs exceeds the administration's legal authority. Last month, Trump signed an executive order aiming to identify and possibly cut off federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities and states, which limit collaboration between local law enforcement and immigration authorities. 'It's quite simple,' said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a briefing announcing the executive order. 'Obey the law, respect the law, and don't obstruct federal immigration officials and law enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation's communities.' Cities and states that find themselves on the Trump administration's list could also face criminal and civil rights lawsuits, as well as charges for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. During Trump's first term in 2018, California legislators passed a pioneering sanctuary law, the California Values Act. California receives more than $15.7 billion in transportation grants annually to maintain roads, highways, railways, airways and bridges, Bonta's office said. That includes $2 billion for transit systems, including buses, commuter rail, trolleys and ferries. Read more: California has sued Trump 15 times in his first 100 days. Where do those cases stand? The state also receives $20.6 billion in yearly homeland security grants to prepare for and respond to terrorist attacks and other catastrophes. Those funds include emergency preparedness and cybersecurity grants. But the coalition of states — California, Illinois, New Jersey and Rhode Island — argued that because such grant funding has no connection to immigration enforcement, the Trump administration cannot impose criteria that forces states to comply with its vision of enforcement. 'President Trump doesn't have the authority to unlawfully coerce state and local governments into using their resources for federal immigration enforcement — and his latest attempt to bully them into doing so is blatantly illegal,' Bonta said. This story will be updated. Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hochul, MTA set to blow off Trump April 20 deadline to kill congestion tolls
Gov. Kathy Hochul is set to blow through another federal deadline meant to halt the $9 congestion toll to enter parts of Manhattan, as NYC Mayor Eric Adams' administration backed her in a lawsuit to keep the wildly controversial scheme alive. Both the city and state Departments of Transportation on Friday joined a suit the Hochul-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority filed in February — after the White House threatened to block the embattled agency from continuing to collect on the first-in-the-nation tolls that went into effect Jan. 5 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street. 'Despite the Administration's 'royal' decree, its effort to summarily and unilaterally overturn the solution to the City's congestion enacted by New Yorkers' elected representatives is unlawful and invalid,' the amended complaint states. The latest legal salvo was fired as the White House remained mum about what steps, if any, would be taken should New York snub the Sunday deadline set by the US Department of Transportation to quash the tolls. Both the Governor's Office and the MTA said there's no plan to shut the toll cameras. However, the US DOT insisted Saturday it's sticking by the deadline – despite an agreement reached in court earlier this month between the MTA and Trump administration lawyers to keep the toll cameras on until the fall. 'The deadline is April 20th, and we expect New York to comply and terminate this program,' an agency spokesperson said. 'USDOT will continue to fight for working class Americans whose tax dollars have already funded and paid for these roads.' The agency earlier this month posted on X it would 'not hesitate to use every tool at our disposal' to shut the tolls down if the state didn't comply, but refused to provide specifics. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island), a plaintiff in one of the many lawsuits seeking to block the tolls, accused the Hochul administration of violating federal law by pushing through congestion pricing without completing a 'full' environmental study on the impact on neighborhoods throughout the Big Apple. 'It's not the first time the governor has violated our laws, right?' said Malliotakis Saturday at an unrelated press conference on Staten Island. 'Whether it's the sanctuary [city policies], state policy, whether it's ignoring federal directives, this is just another example of how it's rules for me, not for thee. They don't want to comply with our federal law.' The pol also said she spoke with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy last week and learned the Trump administration is 'not letting go of this' and is 'very focused on getting rid of this cash grab that is hurting' New Yorkers. 'I think that the Trump administration needs to come up with some type of penalization for not complying with this law,' she told The Post. 'Maybe they want to look at withholding certain federal funds, for projects within Manhattan, within the congestion zone. Maybe the Second Avenue subway [expansion project], for example.' The White House previously demanded the MTA stop collecting tolls March 21, but Duffy announced before the deadline that the US DOT granted a 30-day extension through Sunday as negotiations continued. Adams, who has grown close with Trump in recent months while remaining lukewarm on congestion pricing, has not publicly commented on his administration's involvement in the legal battle. The city joined the suit just two weeks after the mayor's historic federal corruption case was dropped. Critics speculated that Adams was cozying up in hopes of obtaining a presidential pardon before a judge tossed the case. The Mayor's office issues a statement that said: 'The mayor has been abundantly clear that he is open to working with the federal administration — as demonstrated by his subway walkthrough with the U.S. Transportation Secretary — to ensure all New Yorkers have access to safe, affordable, and structurally sound transportation. We also want to be sure our subway and bus system has the funds it needs, and the state should be able to make independent assessments of how to raise those funds. This was an amendment to a previously filed lawsuit by the MTA to add additional context that NYC DOT has gathered on the new program the state has instituted on city streets.' Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, the presumptive Republican nominee in this year's mayoral race, said the MTA should focus on cracking down on subway scofflaws rather than imposing unfair taxes. 'All their resources and focus should be on collecting the fares — which they are refusing to do,' he said.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NYC takes up arms against White House in fight over congestion pricing: ‘The president is not a king'
The Adams administration has joined the MTA's lawsuit looking to block President Trump from squashing the controversial tolling plan. Both the city and state Departments of Transportation on Friday signed onto the legal case that the MTA filed back in February after the White House made moves to axe the $9 Manhattan tolls. 'Despite the Administration's 'royal' decree, its effort to summarily and unilaterally overturn the solution to the City's congestion enacted by New Yorkers' elected representatives is unlawful and invalid,' a joint complaint states. 'Accordingly, Congestion Pricing remains alive and well, and the MTA and TBTA responded by filing this lawsuit seeking a declaration that the Administration's actions are null and void and for vacatur of the purported 'rescission' and 'termination.'' The Riders Alliance and the Sierra Club have also joined the complaint, as well as filed a separate one against the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. 'In case there were any doubts, MTA, State and City reaffirmed in a court filing that congestion pricing is here to stay and that the arguments Secretary Duffy made trying to stop it have zero merit,' said John J. McCarthy, the MTA's chief of policy and external relations, told Politico. Mayor Adams, who has grown close with Trump in recent months but remained lukewarm on congestion pricing, has not publicly commented on his administration's involvement in the legal battle. The Adams administration signed on just two weeks after the mayor's historic corruption case was dropped. Critics speculated that Adams was cozying up in hopes of obtaining a presidential pardon before a judge tossed the case. City Hall did not immediately respond to The Post's request for comment. The MTA and the White House earlier this month reached an agreement that congestion pricing can remain in effect through the fall as a judge weighs the fate of the new program. But the administration later told the court it was still evaluating its options if NYC does not comply and has reached 'no final decision' what, if anything would happen on the April 20 deadline. Trump, however, has pushed for the MTA to stop tolling drivers before May. Congestion pricing was rolled out in January, and was almost immediately targeted by Trump. In a February Truth Social post, Trump declared: 'CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!' 'The President is not a king, and Defendants have no right to demand compliance with the Administration's unlawful directives,' the lawsuit fires back. 'Plaintiffs will continue to operate the Program as required by New York law unless and until Plaintiffs are directed to stop by a court order.'
The Hill
27-03-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump launches task force to make D.C. ‘safe and beautiful,' focusing on deportations, crime, homelessness
President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order with the goal of improving Washington, D.C.'s cleanliness and safety, focusing on deporting migrants in the nation's capital and cleaning up crime and homelessness. The order launches a task force 'to ensure effective federal participation' in the enforcement of immigration laws and redirecting resources to apprehend and deport migrants in D.C. and to monitor D.C.'s sanctuary-city status to comply with federal immigration laws. The task force will also assist in completing the accreditation of D.C.'s forensic crime lab, assist with recruiting police officers, help to 'increase the speed and lower the cost of processing concealed carry license requests,' and revise policies on 'pretrial detention of criminal defendants' so dangerous individuals are detained. Additionally, the order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to remove and clean up all homeless encampments on federal land. The task force will include representatives from the Interior, as well as the Departments of Transportation, Homeland Security, FBI, Marshals Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It will also coordinate with local officials from D.C., the order said, including from the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia, and will also include the U.S. attorney's office for Maryland and the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The task force can also request assistance and coordinate with the Metropolitan Police Department, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, United States Park Police, and the Amtrak Police, the order said. The order directs the task force to help with ending fare evasion on the D.C. metro, deploy a 'more robust' law enforcement presence in D.C. in places like the National Mall and museums, 'develop and implement a program to beautify and make safe,' work to restore public monuments and memorials, and work to remove graffiti. 'As the Federal capital city, Washington, D.C., is the only city that belongs to all Americans and that all Americans can claim as theirs. As the capital city of the greatest Nation in the history of the world, it should showcase beautiful, clean, and safe public spaces,' the order said. The order says that D.C. should feel safe, including on public transit, as well as 'clean, well-kept, and pleasant.' It also declares it is U.S. policy to make D.C. 'safe, beautiful, and prosperous by preventing crime, punishing criminals, preserving order, protecting our revered American monuments, and promoting beautification and the preservation of our history and heritage.' Trump suggested earlier this month that the federal government could take over D.C. if local officials 'can't do the job' and he said he wants to make the nation's capital 'the talk of the world.'
