Frank Pallone

One of the 1,000 workers who were laid off on Feb. 6 when construction stopped on the massive Gateway Tunnel project will be among the guests when President Donald Trump gives the State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Derrick Healy of Ocean Townnship, a Gateway Tunnel construction worker and member of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, will be the guest of U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., D-6th Dist.

He was working on a gateway site in Weehawken.

“I’m bringing Derrick to remind the country of the hardworking people struggling to make ends meet who Trump has abandoned,” Pallone said in a statement. “New Jerseyans like Derrick want the chance to work hard and get ahead, instead Trump stuck them with skyrocketing costs.”

The $16 billion Hudson River Tunnel Project is building two new tunnels and rehabilitate the existing 116-year-old rail tunnels. Boring the first tunnels through the Palisades in North Bergen was scheduled to start this year.

Federal funding agreements with New Jersey, New York and the Gateway Development Commission, which is overseeing construction were signed in July 2024.

The Trump administration froze approved federal funding for Gateway on Oct. 1, 2025, then on Oct. 15, Trump declared the project terminated after Democrats blocked passage of the federal budget.

More recently, White House spokespersons said the funding will be released if Democrats vote for funding for the Department of Homeland Security budget.

News reports said Trump told U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer that he’d release Gateway funding if New York’s Penn Station and Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. were named for him. Trump denied that in a Truth Social post last week.

New Jersey, New York and the Gateway Development Commission sued the USDOT and other agencies contending they breached 2024 contracts for federal funding. A Federal Court judge ordered payment of $235 million to the commission, which was done last week.

Now, Healy and other Gateway Tunnel workers are waiting for word when they can return to the five job sites in New Jersey and New York.

A Gateway Development Commission Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, where an announcement was expected, was cancelled due to the blizzard.

Pallone is bringing Healy to underscore “a simple reality” ahead of the State of the Union: affordability starts with a paycheck and New Jersey workers shouldn’t need a court order just to get back to work, a spokesperson said in a statement.