By Jonathan D. Salant of the Star Ledger/NJ.com

  When federal lawmakers from New Jersey and New York met with President Donald Trump last September, they left the White House believing he supported the Gateway Tunnel project.

  Now that Trump would rather shut down the federal government than fund Gateway, those same officials want to return to the White House to see if they can get the president to change his mind again. 

  "We've got to do a further full-court press with Trump himself," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist. "The president was very much for this just last fall and now for reasons that we are not aware of is against it."

 

   Helping their case is the fact that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-11th Dist., are among the lawmakers writing the spending bill.

  And Ryan said he wouldn't stand in the way of including the money, though told the lawmakers at the meeting they needed to overcome Trump's objections.

  "He told us to try to work it out everywhere we can," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.. "See if you can find a way that's acceptable to the president."

  King said he will try to speak to Trump on Thursday when they both attend the annual St. Patrick's Day luncheon at the Capitol.

  Ryan also is facing pressure from others besides Trump to keep the Gateway money out of the spending bill. 

  Including the money "would delay or halt the completion of dozens of other worthy transit projects around the country," said 10 House Republicans, led by Rep. Ted Budd, R-N.C., in a letter sent to Ryan Wednesday.

  Among those signing the letter was Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., head of the Freedom Caucus, comprised of the more conservative House Republicans.

  Budd spearheaded the unsuccessful effort last September to remove the $900 million from the House spending bill.

  Besides Smith and Lance, the other New Jersey lawmakers attending the Republican-only meeting were Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-2nd Dist., and Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist. Three other New Yorkers joined King.

  Last September, Trump met with a bipartisan group of Congress members, plus Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Lawmakers walked away saying they expected Trump to move ahead with Gateway.

  Trump's transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, told the House Transportation Committee earlier this month that Trump only was being "cordial."

  Chao has insisted that the two states were putting up less than 5 percent of the money for Gateway even though their agreement with the federal government reached under President Barack Obama's administration involved a 50-50 cost split with Washington.

This article ran on Page 3 of the Print Edition of the March 16, 2017 Trenton Times, and other NJ.com publications and can be viewed online at:
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/03/hoping_the_2nd_time_is_the_charm_as_nj_reps_seek_m.html