In lamenting the loss of the majestic old Penn Station 40 years ago, Yale architecture professor Vincent Scully famously stated, “Once one entered the city like a god; now one scuttles in like a rat.”

The sunless pit that is the current Penn Station has long been a sore spot for New Yorkers with a sense of history or a regular commute. That’s why Senator Moynihan secured $800 million essentially to undo what he called “the great act of vandalism in the history of the city” and transform the Beaux Arts Farley Post Office across the street on Eighth Avenue into a state-of-the-art David Childs-designed train station.

Republican delegates will have plenty of time to contemplate the inadequacy of the pit and the potential of the Farley Building later this month as they scurry between Madison Square Garden and the Post Office on a newly constructed footbridge elevated across Eighth Avenue. They should take another step toward completing the project by standing up to the recent effort by some in the Republican Congress to stall the project by stripping $40 million from Moynihan Station. The debate and vote on this crucial appropriation for initial construction will bookend the convention.

Moynihan, who died in 2003, warned that this might happen, calling the project’s funding “a big fat white porpoise in a sea of sharks.” Certainly, the station has faced its share of critics and skeptics. With the Bloomberg administration’s focus on developing the far West Side with a stadium and convention center, many observers felt that Moynihan Station was put on the back burner, even though its role as the gateway to the West Side would undoubtedly enhance the neighborhood. Then earlier this year, the original anchor tenant, Amtrak, went back on a 1999 memorandum of understanding and bowed out in shortsighted concern over costs in their busiest and only profitable corridor – there will come a time when the 99-year lease will look appealing and positively cheap. But a combination of New Jersey Transit or the Long Island Railroad – with more than a half-million riders a day – could more than make up for this loss, and eventually provoke a reassessment by Amtrak. There is certainly room for all three tenants as well as ample retail space in the mammoth square block-sized structure. The state was already looking for $50 million in additional funding from Congress for required improvements in ventilation for the tunnels – a mandated improvement the cost of which Amtrak has ducked for the current Penn Station. Now someone on the Transportation Committee has enabled an end run at the existing funding for Moynihan Station, shifting it to an unrelated but competing project that would extend the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal.

Undaunted by these man-made obstacles, the New York State Economic Development Corporation is proceeding with its plans to develop Moynihan Station. Its chairman, Charles Gargano, sounds optimistic and determined when discussing the station, saying, “I am 100% confident that this project will move forward.”

The corporation has compiled an impressive list of completed projects since Governor Pataki and Mr. Gargano took over in 1995,including the long-stalled Queens West, Hudson River Park, and the JFK rail-link. The Freedom Tower groundbreaking occurred this past July 4, Brooklyn Bridge Park environmental impact statement and plans are underway, and Mr. Gargano is moving his team forward on Moynihan Station, with real deadlines approaching. A request for qualifications for the development is due next week on August 27. Mr. Gargano stated that a Request for Proposals will go out in October with a 90-day window, allowing the estimated five-year construction to begin within the first half of next year.

It is not until then that the project can be considered completely safe. “It’s much easier to kill projects on paper than when shovels are in the ground,” says Maura Moynihan, echoing the rhythms and sensibilities of her father. Armed with a healthy balance of skepticism and the desire to see her father’s project completed, Ms. Moynihan formed the Citizens Committee for Moynihan Station. She has found allies in both the public and private sectors. Steadfast friends of the project include Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma, New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels, and Bloomberg communications director Billy Cunningham. Alfonse D’Amato, New York’s former senator, and John Zagame, a former assemblyman, are also supporters.

Of course, in the upcoming congressional battle to reinstate the missing $40 million – to say nothing of getting Amtrak to honor its previous commitment – there is no substitute for the active and determined involvement of New York’s current senators, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton. Both are quick to honor Moynihan’s memory in words, but fighting for the proper funding for the station would be a more lasting tribute to his legacy.

Gods get things done and create works of lasting beauty; rats hide in the darkness and nibble away, undercutting others’ efforts. Every worthwhile effort has its heroes and villains, but in the case of Moynihan Station we can call them gods and rats, in honor of Mr. Scully’s characterization. It is yet unclear who specifically ordered the already allocated $40 million from Moynihan Station to Grand Central Terminal, but the solution lies in the negotiations under way. New York’s senators should get personally involved in this and all other stalled aspects of this project, making it clear to everyone on the hill that Moynihan Station is a priority. The Republicans, in turn, should pay close attention to their surroundings while they are in New York, and realize that the Penn Station pit is pathetically inadequate. It is within their power to give New York a gateway appropriate to a great and free city. Indecision time is over: choose your sides as gods or rats.