Gottheimer says House funding bill targets NYC congestion pricing, calls for federal review
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Josh Gottheimer said Friday that government funding legislation passed by the U.S. House this week includes language aimed at pushing back on New York City’s congestion pricing program, including directions for the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct a federal review of its impacts on commuters.
Gottheimer, a Democrat who represents New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District, said the bipartisan legislation calls for a full federal investigation into how the congestion program affects commuters — particularly those who live in areas where public transit is “unsafe, unreliable, or simply nonexistent.”
“For Jersey families who already pay some of the highest taxes in the country, this outrageous Congestion Tax continues to be an outright slap in the face,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “It’s a commuter tax, plain and simple — and it targets hard-working Jersey families to bail out an MTA that refuses to get its own house in order. This bipartisan legislation that just passed the House will help fight back against the crushing Congestion Tax.”
According to Gottheimer’s announcement, the House-passed legislation also states that federal transportation policy should not endorse tolling programs that disproportionately burden one group of commuters — such as New Jersey drivers traveling into Manhattan — in order to subsidize others, such as Metropolitan Transportation Authority transit riders.
The measure further points to reports of operational inefficiencies, fare evasion and mismanagement at the MTA, arguing those issues have contributed to the agency’s financial problems and increased reliance on policies like congestion pricing to close budget gaps, rather than implementing internal reforms.
Gottheimer said the federal study would break down toll costs by ZIP code, evaluate whether commuters have practical transit alternatives and review a decade of MTA spending, inefficiency and fare evasion. He said it would also require recommendations to improve the agency’s finances without imposing additional costs on New Jersey drivers.
Gottheimer said he has opposed congestion pricing since it was proposed and plans to continue pressing federal officials to address commuter impacts and what he called “MTA’s mismanagement.”
