Getty/Kevork Djansezian

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is considered by some to be a rising star in the Republican Party. And the ARC/Gateway tunnel debate may prove to be a feather in his cap.

NJ Gov. Chris Christie enjoyed his moment in the sun yesterday, as he gave a tongue-lashing to Democratic U.S. Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg for proposing a new Amtrak tunnel under the Hudson River.

Don't get him wrong: Christie said he supports the new project because a) it doesn't have as many cost overruns as the old ARC tunnel, a project he made the extremely unpopular decision to kill last fall; b) this new tunnel will go directly to Penn Station instead of dead-end underneath Macy's and; c) perhaps most importantly, will be funded mostly by the federal government, instead of New Jersey taxpayers.

"I’m thrilled that there’s movement on this," said Christie yesterday. "They touted this plan as ‘having better control over cost overruns.’ But the thing I find interesting about that is that these are the very same people who are saying months ago that I was fabricating the cost overruns. That they didn’t really exist."

"If I had been intimidated by all the rhetoric from all the folks who were shooting at us at the time, the taxpayers of New Jersey would be on the hook for untold billions of dollars," Christie continued. "The leadership of the State of New Jersey stood up for the people of the State of New Jersey and said we are not going to be the patsies who pick up the tab for this. And I hope all those commuters who were yelling and screaming, who felt nothing would ever happen if I did this, now understand that I was doing it for a reason."

Yes, Christie is gloating. And why shouldn't he? He'll likely get to see the tunnel built (he did tell the NYT that he's not ready to write any checks), but the people of New Jersey won't pay for it. Sweet, sweet Republican vindication.

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