NJ Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen Tries To Send Tri-State Rail Dough To Midwest Flooding
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - When the state of Florida nixed federal funding, nearly $1 billion was set aside for the New York area's rail needs.
But a spokesman for Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen tells the Star-Ledger the feds have yet to put it in writing and that funding could be in danger.
So, the lawmaker's amendment to a water and energy bill sends the money to Midwest flood relief, where he thinks it would be better spent.
WCBS 880's Paul Murnane With Reaction
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"New Jersey has a large amount of infrastructure costs that are likely to come due in the very near future. So, any deferral of improvements is going to have, you know, long-term implications," says Jon Carnegie, executive director of the Rutgers University Vorhees Transportation Center.
"Anytime you take a billion dollars away from one purpose and sent it to another. A billion dollars doesn't come around all that often, and it's obviously going to have some impact," he says.
He says while it may not be down in black and white in Washington, the Tri-State Area's rail needs are well-known.
