Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao came to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to answer questions about the administration’s infrastructure proposal Tuesday. But she spent much of the time confirming and defending the administration’s attempt to kill a New York and New Jersey rail program.

“Is the president of the United States personally intervening with the speaker to kill this project?” asked Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., referring to a weekend report in The Washington Post that President Donald Trump asked Speaker Paul D. Ryan to kill funding for the Gateway Program.

“Yes, the president is concerned about the viability of this project and the fact that New York and New Jersey have no skin in the game,” Chao said. “They need to step up and bear their fair share. They are two of the richest states in the country. If they absorb all of the funds, there will be no other funds for the rest of the country.”

But Chao’s spokeswoman later told reporters the secretary wasn’t verifying the report and that the administration wasn’t killing the Gateway program, but was only opposed to a proposed House appropriation.

Watch: Chao, Maloney Go Back and Forth On Rail Project