Reporter brings receipt after Republican downplays Trump’s infrastructure name demand

What’s in a name?

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on Sunday claimed he “could care less” about “the name of a building or infrastructure project” after the New York Times on Friday reported top White House officials pressured Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to help name multiple U.S. facilities after President Donald Trump.

But one reporter resurfaced an old Lawler tweet that shows the Republican lawmaker wasn’t always so magnanimous about infrastructure name changes.

According to the Times, citing four people familiar with the conversations, top Trump administration officials in recent weeks have told Schumer the president would release "billions of dollars he has frozen for a rail tunnel under the Hudson River” if the Democratic leader agreed to name “New York’s Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after” Trump.

As the report notes, “The Trump administration began withholding funds for the new tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey, a $16 billion project, in October.”

Lawler, who earlier this week offered a tepid critique of Trump after the president’s official Truth Social account posted a racist AI video depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, was asked about Trump’s naming demand on ABC This Week.

“We learned that President Trump told Chuck Schumer, the Senate leader, that he would be willing to unfreeze $16 billion in funding for a major infrastructure project in New York and new Jersey if Schumer were willing to endorse the idea of renaming Penn Station, and by the way, Dulles Airport, after Donald Trump," ABC News’ Jonathan Karl explained Sunday. "How is that OK?”

Lawler replied that the Hudson River Tunnel Project is a "critical infrastructure project” and “critical for my district" before blaming Schumer for the frozen funds.

"Schumer decided to shut the government down for 43 days and as a result, this critical infrastructure was frozen during that shut down," Lawler alleged, describing the discussions as a "negotiation between" Trump and Schumer.

The Republican lawmaker the recalled former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo "negotiated the renaming of the Tappan Zee Bridge after his father [former New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo] and the renaming of the Triborough Bridge after his former father-in-law [Robert F. Kennedy]."

“This is not new," Lawler claimed. "Renaming critical infrastructure projects is not a new concept.”

“Okay, I mean, he’s holding the money hostage for having these things named after him," Karl replied. "This isn't like, 'Let's honor somebody.' Trump wants it named after himself. And he saying he'll unfreeze the money if they do it."

“At the end of the day, I could care less what the name of a building is, or a critical infrastructure project is," Lawler insisted. "I care that it gets done."

WNYC reporter Jon Campbell on Sunday noted Lawler “brought up the Cuomo Bridge" during the ABC interview "as a prior example of government officials naming infrastructure after family.” But, as Campbell noted, Lawler failed to mention his former critique of Mario Cuomo’s name on the Tappan Zee bridge.

In March 2021, then-assemblyman Lawyer introduced a bill to change the name of the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge back to the Tappan Zee Bridge, arguing the legislation as essential because it "bears the same last name" as Andrew Cuomo, who patch.com reported at the time was “mired in controversies over inappropriate behavior with women and the state's rules about nursing homes at the start of the pandemic.”

The following year, Lawler found renewed interest in his anti-Cuomo crusade, telling CBS News in March 2022 "the time for compromise on this has passed, with respect to adding the Tappan Zee name back.”

"The governor didn't want [compromise] at the time,” Lawler said in 2022. “He wanted the Cuomo family name. He, through his own actions — not mine, not anybody else's, through his own actions — has disgraced that name and it needs to come off the bridge.”

In 2024, while running for reelection in his competitive district, Lawler even sold t-shirts about the bridge bearing the Cuomo family name.

It appears Lawler’s specific position on renaming infrastructure projects is he “could care less” about appeasing Trump. But when it comes to a bridge bearing the name of the father of his political foe, well, that’s a bridge too far.