An olive branch? Or a continued political rivalry?
Insiders from both Capitol Hill and the White House revealed that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and President Trump met in secret yesterday on a brewing topic nobody saw coming.
Insiders say the duo huddled Thursday for a private discussion focused on infrastructure funding for New York’s Gateway tunnel project.
Sources also say that Schumer and Trump — both New Yorkers — also discussed the ongoing issues regarding healthcare and immigration policy.
“They’re both very New York, and few in DC get what that actually means,” said a source who is close to both Schumer and Trump’s respective camps.
The meeting, which was not publicly noted until late in the day Thursday, was confirmed by Schumer’s office and focused primarily on the ongoing infrastructure battle facing New York City.
“President Trump requested a meeting with Leader Schumer at the White House to discuss the president’s hold on the Gateway tunnel project between New York and New Jersey,” Schumer’s office said in a statement.
President Trump froze about $18 billion in funding for the Gateway tunnel and the Second Avenue subway project in October on the first day of the Schumer-led partial government shutdown, during which Democrats for 43 days held up funding in a bid to extend Obamacare subsidies.
“In the meeting, Leader Schumer emphasized the urgent need to promptly release the already-secured funds for the Gateway Program — the most important infrastructure project in the nation employing thousands of workers and vital to New York and the entire Northeast economy,” his office said.
“Leader Schumer also raised the need for President Trump to push Senate Republicans to support the 3-year extension of the [Affordable Care Act] tax credit bill that has already passed the House.”
The White House has yet to confirm if President Trump committed to restore the paused infrastructure funds, or if Schumer offered any concessions in return.
A variety of social-services funds for New York and four other states also were paused this month with the administration citing fraud concerns, which were also a focal point of the impromptu meeting.
Last week the GOP-led House passed a three-year extension to pandemic-era health insurance subsidies. However, there’s no indication yet that Trump agreed to extend pandemic-era health insurance subsidies that expired Dec. 31 for about 20 million middle-class policy holders, according to The New York Post.
President Trump announced yesterday a new legislative plan for healthcare, featuring federal subsidies that would flow into Health Savings Accounts, rather than go toward health insurance premiums.
In addition to the Empire State infrastructure ordeal and the ongoing health insurance battle, Schumer also “told the president ICE raids are terrorizing communities [and] told President Trump that their actions are dangerous and putting more people at risk and he must pull back ICE from U.S. cities,” his office said.
The White House did not immediately comment on the meeting at the time of publication.