Apparently, the executive authority of the president now extends to Northeast transit policy.
Candidate Trump whined about congestion pricing during the campaign, apparently less traffic and pollution are socialist or something.
President Trump acted this past week by ordering his Department of Transportation to put the kibosh on the toll program that began in January. The Republican administration’s legal argument is some gobbledygook about federally funded highways and double taxation, that if applied in the case of congestion pricing, would seem to invalidate just about all tolls, everywhere.
Ignore the legal reasoning in the DOT memo, it’s window dressing. Trump is messing with congestion pricing because he can.
There are valid arguments against the congestion pricing program in its current form, the main one being that New York is using it to soak Jersey drivers without giving us a cut of the spoils. The program has been in effect since Jan. 5, and by all accounts it has enjoyed early success in its stated goals of reducing traffic and pollution by thinning the herd in lower Manhattan.
Gov. Hochul is triumphant, Gov. Murphy is cranky and the interstate rivalry goes on, but what does any of this have to do with Trump?
The answer is obviously, nothing.
But, having proclaimed himself master of all he surveys, the president can’t physically or mentally stop from inserting himself into the argument.
He rules by executive order, dares the courts to stop him and casually mentions he can ignore the coequal branches of government if they do.
Once the president starts picking and choosing which legislation states can and can’t enforce based on his own personal proclivities, your democracy has become something very different.
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