Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York rejected the request, CNN reported.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., last month to have Dulles International Airport and New York’s Penn Station named after President Donald Trump, according to reports from CNN and NBC News, citing multiple sources.
In exchange, the administration would release the federal funds needed to build a rail tunnel between New York and New Jersey, called the Gateway project, the reports said.
Schumer rejected the offer and said he didn’t have the power to deliver on the request, CNN reported.
A spokesperson for Schumer and the White House did not comment, the reports said.
New York and New Jersey sued the Trump administration Tuesday for freezing $16 billion in federal funding for the tunnel under the Hudson River between the two states, seeking a quick ruling because construction that has been underway could be forced to shut down.
The money for the project was to run out on Friday.
The administration put a hold on the funding in September, citing the government shutdown. The White House budget director, Russ Vought, said on the social platform X at the time that officials believed the spending was based on unconstitutional diversity, equity and inclusion principles, and the U.S. Department of Transportation said it was reviewing any “unconstitutional practices.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan by New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, asks a judge to declare the funding suspension unlawful and order payments to resume immediately so construction can continue.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
