MTA boss Janno Lieber on Sunday trolled President Trump over the GOP’s crushing midterm losses and an upcoming hike in congestion pricing that the commander in chief has so far failed to kill.
Lieber said he hopes the Trump administration — which has attempted to KO New York City’s controversial congestion-pricing system by threatening to claw back more than $18 billion in federal funding for state infrastructure projects if it’s not eliminated — will back off now that Democrats have won both the House and Senate.
“Hopefully, they’ve got bigger problems now,” Lieber told “Up Close” host Liz Cho of Trump and other Republicans after the blue tsunami on Election Day two weeks ago.
“I hope that the Trump administration will 1794771472 stop targeting New York,” Lieber said.
The transit boss taunted the president over the planned local increases in the congestion-pricing tolls, too.
Lieber said he has no plans to stray from the timeline set in the program’s Biden-era federal approval, which raises the toll from its $9 peak-hour one now to $12 in 2028 and then $15 in 2031.
The Trump admin has vowed to end congestion pricing, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy then threatening to withhold federal funds from the state if the tolls stayed on.
But a federal judge ruled in March that the administration’s attempt to end the program was unlawful.
Lieber also blasted what he called Trump’s “kooky tariffs” on components for rail cars and buses that could cost New York taxpayers $1 billion. The MTA’s vehicles are built in the US with more than 70% domestic content.
Lieber also seemingly endorsed fellow New Yorkers and Democratic Congressmen Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer for speaker of the House and Senate majority leader, respectively.
“They are guys who grew up riding the subway,” he said of the pair, praising them and saying they’d understand the importance of public transportation in this country.
