CBS News New York

By Kristie Keleshian & Elijah Westbrook

FORT LEE, N.J. — Bipartisan, cross-state legislation was announced Thursday to stop congestion pricing, which could cost drivers up to $23 to cross through Midtown and below.

The plan was devised by lawmakers in New Jersey and New York.

“We are not an ATM for the MTA,” Rep. Mike Lawler said.

The message agreed upon by Lawler, a Republican from New York, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, is illustrated in the proposed Anti-Congestion Pricing Act.

Congestion pricing plan would implement tolls when entering the Central Business District of Manhattan, which is essentially Midtown from 60th Street down.

It could cost drivers an additional $23 when passing through, which is an estimated $5,000 per year per car, all in the hopes of driving cars and trucks out of the area and reducing traffic.

“If they’re going to steal more money from our families, the idea that they’re also going to try to take federal tax dollars people pay is outrageous. So, they’ll lose their federal subsidies that they get every single year,” Gottheimer said.

Gotthiemer was describing just one part of the Anti-Congestion Pricing Act, which would prohibit federal capital investment grants from going towards the MTA until drivers receive any tax exemption for congestion pricing, and also rewrite the tax code to give drivers who go through those tolls a federal tax credit.

At an unrelated press conference on Thursday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul showed unwavering support for congestion pricing.

“It is moving on the path forward. We are not deterred by people holding press conferences, I assure you,” Hochul said.

Governor Hochul says she is undeterred and will push forward with congestion pricing, taxing suburban commuters for coming into Manhattan. If so, New York should be prepared to forgo federal funding for the bloated, mismanaged MTA. @GovKathyHochul

— Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) January 19, 2023

Across the Hudson River at another press conference, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he can’t get behind double-taxing New Jersey drivers.

“If you had a reliable one-seat ride that you knew would be on time into Manhattan on a train or a bus that flew through on a bus lane that went to a state-of-the-art bus terminal, that would be one thing. But we don’t have that yet,” Murphy said.

Congestion pricing is hoped to reduce pollution from cars in the city, but those in opposition believe it will only shift traffic to places like the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, possibly increasing air pollution.

“But to just add a toll is going to shift where congestion is. It will shift if to Fort Lee. It will shift it to the Bronx. It will shift it to Queens, and those are low-income communities already hurt by congestion in their communities,” Lawler said.

The MTA’s chief of external relations, John J. McCarthy said in a statement, in part, “Anyone serious about the environment and reducing gridlock understands that congestion pricing is good for the environment, good for getting fire trucks, buses and delivery vehicles through the city, and good for the 90% of people who depend on mass transit.”

The congressmen and Murphy are calling on the Biden administration to conduct an environmental impact study on congestion pricing before moving forward.

There is still no exact date on when congestion pricing would start, even though it was approved in 2019.

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said New York’s senior senator has already discussed the issue at the federal level and hopes that all the parties can come to a consensus.

New York Post

By David Meyer

A new bill in Congress would punish the MTA — by denying it needed federal funds — if it goes ahead with proposed tolls for car trips in Manhattan below 60th Street, two bipartisan bill sponsors say.

“We are introducing this bipartisan legislation to say to the MTA, if you are going to move forward with this — to say to (Gov.) Kathy Hochul, if you are going to move forward with this — then you don’t need our federal dollars anymore,” newly elected Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said Thursday in Fort Lee, along with colleague Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ).

“Kathy Hochul and the mayor of New York City need to pull back on this ridiculous plan that harms suburban commuters, that negatively impacts our economy and that hurts working class and middle class families all across the region.”

Passed under Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019, the proposed tolls could be as high as $23 per vehicle when they go into effect in the next few years, according to a preliminary environmental assessment released by the MTA last summer.

That new toll could cost daily car commuters to the central business district $5,000 a year, the congressmen charged.

Gottheimer and Lawler’s bill would prohibit the US Department of Transportation from issuing grants to the MTA unless “drivers from Jersey and outer boroughs in New York crossings into Manhattan receive exemptions from any congestion tax.”

“New York City and the MTA are literally playing Russian roulette with their economy, and are willing to stick it to all those hardworking commuters from Jersey, the outer boroughs of New York city suburbs,” Gottheimer said.

“Many of us live in a mass transit desert, where there just aren’t a lot of options for mass transit. The families have to drive. Commuters have to drive. They have no other options.”

The MTA got over $15 billion in emergency aid to keep operating when COVID-19 decimated ridership levels in 2020. But ridership hasn’t recovered, and the authority says it’ll need more financial support in the near future to maintain its $19 billion operating budget.

Congestion pricing would fund the authority’s capital budget, which includes long-term improvements — including new elevators, modern subway signals and the next phase of the Second Ave. subway.

An MTA spokesman batted back at the lawmakers’ criticism, responding that 90% percent of commuters to Manhattan below 60th Street do not drive.

“Anyone serious about the environment and reducing gridlock understands that congestion pricing is good for the environment, good for getting fire trucks, buses and delivery vehicles through the city, and good for the 90% of people who depend on mass transit,” said John McCarthy, MTA Chief of External Relations.

Hochul told reporters Thursday she is “not deterred by people holding press conferences.”

“The congestion that we are experiencing in places like Manhattan are not sustainable,” she said. “It becomes paralyzing, whether it’s emergency vehicles or delivery trucks or the people who live there. It’s also a source of funding so we can continue investing in what is the lifeblood of the New York City region, which is our MTA.”

“I’m not deterred. They can do all the press conferences they want. It has no effect on me.,” she said.

Additional reporting by Zach Williams

News 12

Newly sworn-in District-17 Rep. Mike Lawler said Sunday he is already moving on from an inter-party fight that took four days to elect House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

A group of about 20 Congress members kept voting against McCarthy, which angered their Republican colleagues. They wouldn’t give in until the 15th round of voting.

Lawler said he was on a team tasked with whipping votes and doing press interviews to keep Americans informed.

“All of us had a role to play in dealing with each other and trying to work through it together as a conference, and really try to land the plane here and get everybody on board,” Lawler said.

Lawler believes this fight that some opponents said would damage the Republican Party might end up strengthening it. As messy as it was, he said he is proud to have been a part of the solution.

“Sometimes it’s good to have real robust debate and discussion and I think, frankly, we don’t always see that in government,” Lawler added.

Lawler, who is on the record as not being a supporter of former President Donald Trump, credited him in helping end the fight.

“It speaks to his relationships with some of the people who were holding out, that he was able to speak to them and get them on board. I don’t think it says anything more than that, frankly,” Lawler said.

Lawler said now he can focus on his agenda of reining in government spending, increasing domestic oil production and fixing the immigration system.

He hopes to serve on the Finance and Foreign Affairs committees.