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Marc Molinaro, a former Republican congressman, would steer the Federal Transit Administration, which supports mass transit systems nationwide.
Jan. 30, 2025Updated 4:08 p.m. ET
Marc Molinaro, a former congressman and an outspoken critic of New York City’s new congestion pricing program, has been chosen by President Trump to lead the federal agency that supports the nation’s public transportation systems, according to two officials familiar with the matter.
The White House has yet to formally announce the nomination of Mr. Molinaro, a Republican from New York. But the Trump administration offered him the job in recent days, and Mr. Molinaro accepted, said the officials, both Republicans, who were not authorized to discuss it publicly.
The agency, the Federal Transit Administration, distributes billions of dollars each year in grants for buses, subways, light rail lines and ferries. New York City’s system is by far the largest recipient, and the position would afford Mr. Molinaro considerable sway at a crucial juncture for his home state.
He has spent years criticizing the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that runs New York City’s transit system, as mismanaged and bloated. He has taken particular umbrage at the congestion pricing program implemented this year, which aims to alleviate traffic and generate funding for the system by tolling drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street.
Mr. Trump shares the former congressman’s antipathy for the plan and has promised to try to kill it. The New York Times reported on Thursday that the White House has begun to discuss possible legal strategies to do so.
Mr. Molinaro wrote on X last week that there was a “clear path” to undoing it, though he did not specify how. Like other Republicans, he has called congestion pricing a money grab by a transit agency with a history of financial problems.
