00:00So what's been happening with these projects, Michelle, and have they had to fire people, let contractors go, or do anything to placate the administration?
00:07No, the work is still ongoing. These are two really big transit infrastructure projects in New York City.
00:14One is a new Hudson Rail tunnel. It's what Amtrak and New Jersey Transit use to bring thousands of people in and out of Manhattan every day.
00:23It connects Manhattan and New Jersey. The second project is a subway project, Second Avenue subway, that would extend that line up into Harlem and give transit access to thousands of people.
00:39So these are two really big developments that will help people move better throughout the city.
00:47So desperately necessary. Now, the $18 billion that was halted back in October, did that stop anything happening?
00:53Did people not get paid? No, people were still getting paid. And luckily enough, the work was still ongoing.
00:59Construction has not stopped on either one of these projects. But the federal government is saying, look, the money that has been promised to these projects,
01:09what we need to do is review the projects and make sure that they still comply with these new rules that we have set in place now.
01:17So how will the authorities that be, you know, at least show that they're complying somehow with these new rules in this way that they weren't before?
01:26That's right. And so that's what the MTA, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is our transit agency,
01:32and also the Gateway Project, how they are communicating with the Trump administration to make sure that they are now making sure that contracts that they enter into,
01:45that they don't give special priority to women and minority-owned projects.
01:52They can still be considered part of the disadvantaged business enterprise program, but they cannot give special treatment to minority and women-owned programs.
02:03Does it make any difference that Zoran Mamdani is now the mayor-elect in this process?
02:07Not really. And both organizations, both transit organizations are saying, look, we can comply with these new rules.
02:15It won't be a problem. And work can still keep going.
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