'This Is A Game Changer': NJ Governor Phil Murphy Touts $6.8 Billion Investment Into Gateway Project

3 months ago

Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) celebrated the $6.8 billion of funding for the Gateway rail project between New Jersey and New York.

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Transcript

00:00Good morning, everyone.

00:01Governor Hochul, as you leave, I want to reiterate your very warm words and the substance of

00:07a very, very outstanding relationship, and this project is a great example of that.

00:14So I want to thank Governor Hochul and her team on behalf of my team and the Jersey side

00:19of the Hudson for an extraordinary partnership on this and on so many other matters.

00:25As they say, protocol has been established, so I'm not going to go through and thank by

00:28name the now seemingly hundreds of individuals who deserve credit.

00:34I do want to single out President Joe Biden and his administration, and Polly and Veronica,

00:39thank you for representing the president and vice president and secretary so graciously.

00:45It really matters to have a guy who understands the rails at the top of the totem pole in

00:51this country.

00:53And I can say that with experience because, like Chuck and Corey and Jerry and others,

00:58I dealt with the last administration on this project, and I dealt with the current – the

01:04Biden administration, and it's literally night and day, and I can't thank them enough.

01:09And by the way, our side of the Hudson historically has not covered itself in glory on this project,

01:14so I'm honored to be here representing a new day dawning not just in general but on

01:20the Jersey side of the House.

01:24I was on with some colleagues last night, and they said, what do you got for Monday

01:28morning?

01:29And I said, I'm heading into New York City for an event outdoors.

01:33And they said, what the heck are you doing that for in the middle of July in New York

01:37City?

01:38I said, it isn't every day that somebody hands you a check for $6.8 billion.

01:42So I'll go anywhere for that, Polly.

01:44I want you to know that.

01:46I'm incredibly honored to be here.

01:49And I'm going to sit down after I speak, by the way.

01:50I want to hear the rest of you to make sure I didn't miss anything.

01:54I'll just make it simple other than thanking the President, thanking our brothers and sisters

01:59in labor, and all the other very important individuals here today.

02:03It's very easy on a project like this to be – to make it feel abstract – 95,000

02:11jobs, 20 percent of the nation's GDP, $20 billion of economic activity, on and on and

02:20on.

02:21You hear words like resilient, redundant, reliable.

02:25Those are all big concepts in big numbers.

02:27I think we need to focus on what this will do to individual lives – to the operating

02:34engineer who's going to operate this piece of equipment behind me and his or her family,

02:39to the person trying to get into New York City from Jersey to get to work on time or

02:44to get to school on time, for that person who has been dying for the one-seat ride out

02:49of Westfield, New Jersey, which is finally going to become a reality.

02:55Remember, this is not just about building two new tunnels.

02:59It's about rehabbing the two that exist.

03:01By the way, they were built – I don't think Chuck was the Majority Leader then in 1910.

03:07I only can say that because he's gone.

03:10But this is a game-changer.

03:13The mom and dad who want to get home and have dinner with their kids or help them out on

03:17their math homework, I think we need to think of this not just in the wow, big number reality

03:23– what it will do for this region, for both of our great states – but also the lives

03:28that will be transformed.

03:31And it won't be overnight.

03:32It'll take time.

03:34I was born in Boston and grew up outside of Boston, and that still gets me no votes in

03:39New Jersey.

03:40But I was also growing up during the so-called Big Dig, which went on forever.

03:45This feels like it's gone on forever, but it's finally actually happening.

03:48And it got so frustrating in Boston, they actually hired a public relations firm, and

03:53their theme was if Rome had been built in a day, we would have hired their contractor.

03:58So that's the last thing I'd ask everybody.

04:00Please have some patience.

04:02This is not going to be overnight.

04:04When it finally hits, it will transform literally millions of lives, and I'm honored to be

04:09a part of that.

04:10God bless you all.

04:11Thank you.

'This Is A Game Changer': NJ Governor Phil Murphy Touts $6.8 Billion Investment Into Gateway Project

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