In the days following President Donald Trump’s election in November, Gov. Phil Murphy pledged to work with the Republican when possible but resist him when needed.
Murphy started the Trump term Monday afternoon by writing to the newly inaugurated president, asking his administration to help state officials in their fight against New York City’s congestion pricing policy. The letter plays to Trump’s campaign attacks on the policy, which charges most vehicles to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.
“As you begin your second term as president, I welcome any opportunity to work with you and your administration where we can find common ground,” Murphy wrote. “One area where I believe our priorities align is congestion pricing.”
New Jersey’s legal efforts to stop the policy from taking effect earlier this month were unsuccessful. Murphy said in the letter that New Jersey will be amending its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration to challenge their handling of pre-implementation changes to congestion pricing.
Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, also an anti-establishment gubernatorial candidate, said the governor’s letter prioritizes the wrong issues for the start of the second Trump term. In a tweet Monday afternoon, the mayor called Murphy “out of touch” and said the governor should be focused on challenging Trump’s handling of immigration and LGBTQ+ issues.
“You have potential [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Raids as the Governor of the most diverse state in the country, you have potential attacks on the LGBTQ community, you have a president that doesn’t prioritize the environment,” Fulop wrote. “And you prioritize congestion pricing which is really you mostly fighting for the richest 2% of the [people who] can afford to drive their personal vehicles to NYC daily and pay $1000 per month additional to park.”
Trump is expected to sign as many as 100 executive orders on Monday, including several touching on immigration, according to the New York Times. ICE officials were planning a large-scale operation in Chicago in the days following Trump’s inauguration, but those plans have been delayed because of media leaks—it’s unclear what other cities could instead see the first large immigration enforcement operations.
New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin has made efforts to protect recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program by working with other states to ensure their access to government health insurance.
In Murphy’s penultimate State of the State address last week, Murphy announced the state is stockpiling mifepristone, one of two drugs that comprise medication abortion, in case Congress or the Supreme Court acted against the drug.
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