Inside Trump's push to rename Dulles and Penn Station after himself
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President Trump last month offered to drop his hold on billions of dollars for a major infrastructure project in New York, but only if Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to rename New York's Penn Station and Washington's Dulles International Airport after Trump.
- Schumer (D-N.Y.) rejected the offer, a source familiar with the talks told Axios, prolonging the standoff over funding for the Gateway Tunnel Project connecting New York to New Jersey.
Why it matters: Trump, whose allies renamed the Kennedy Center and the U.S. Institute of Peace after him, is continuing his efforts to reshape American institutions in his image.
- The offer did not come up in an Oval Office meeting between Trump and Schumer last month, the source said. Instead, the offer was made to Schumer in subsequent conversations with the administration about the Gateway project.
- The $16 billion project is set to shut down indefinitely on Friday, without the funding from the federal government.
- The offer from Trump was first reported by Punchbowl News.
The big picture: Trump and Schumer have cut high stakes deals for government funding over the last year. They remain at a stalemate over a project critical for Schumer's state.
- Trump placed a hold on federal funding for the project — which includes the construction of new rail tunnels under the Hudson River — last year after Democrats picked a government shutdown fight with the White House.
- Trump and Schumer met at the White House last month for the first time since those shutdown negotiations last year. In that meeting, Schumer urged Trump to release the federal funding for the project.
Between the lines: The two men are juggling multiple negotiations with each other at once, as they are also in talks over reforms to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
- Schumer and congressional Democrats this week released their list of demands of the White House in negotiations over funding for DHS, including banning masks from ICE agents and requiring body cameras.
- Democrats are pledging to shut down DHS in less than two weeks if the sides can't reach a deal.
Go deeper: Democrats erupt over Trump push to rename Dulles, Penn Station
