WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday said it would end its chokehold on money for a major expansion of the New York City subway system.
Shortly before a scheduled court hearing, the U.S. Department of Transportation signaled it would release tens of millions of dollars to New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to extend the Second Avenue Subway.
President Donald Trump has for months bottled up promised money for the project. Administration officials have said they were doing a review of the funds to make sure the MTA was complying with new contracting requirements, but the White House also suggested the money was being held back as an act of retaliation against Democrats.
“We took the Trump Administration to court after they illegally froze funding for the Second Avenue Subway,” Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said on social media. “Today, they backed down.”
