Rep. Payne, Jr. meets with Biden on Gateway Program

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U.S. Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-NJ) met with President Joe Biden on Monday to discuss the importance of the Gateway Program, as well as the American Jobs Plan and investing in America’s infrastructure.

Biden’s $2.7 trillion plan would repair and replace roads, rail lines, bridges, and tunnels nationwide, including modernizing travel in the Northeast Corridor through an $80 billion investment.

“I had a good meeting with President Biden today to discuss the importance of the Gateway Program to area residents and East Coast travel,” Payne, Jr. said. “He is committed to improving our railroads, airports, harbors, and highways to get us back to our place as the number one importer and exporter in the world. We have been patching and fixing our infrastructure for years and need a serious infrastructure plan to improve our transportation nationwide. President Biden is a strong supporter of the Gateway Program and reminded us today that he was one of the first elected officials to get money for it.”

The Gateway Program is a comprehensive rail investment program that improves reliability, resiliency, and redundancy while creating capacity for the most heavily used passenger rail line in the country.

Payne, Jr., has worked to keep the Gateway Program a national infrastructure priority, including writing a letter to then President-Elect Biden in December, with the support of the New Jersey Democratic House and Senate delegation, to prioritize the Gateway Program in the administration’s infrastructure plans. Last week, the administration announced that the program’s environmental review will be completed on May 28, moving the project one step closer to construction.