NEW YORK ¡ª The executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey defended the agency¡¯s bridge and tunnel toll increases and said toll revenue is not being diverted to the over-budget World Trade Center rebuilding or other port authority real estate projects.

Patrick J. Foye, the port authority¡¯s top executive, spoke in response to hostile questioning from Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., at a House Transportation and Infrastructure field hearing in New York on freight transportation in urban areas.

Grimm used Friday¡¯s wide-ranging hearing to criticize the port authority¡¯s steep increases in truck tolls since 2011. He accused the port authority of ¡°gangster tactics¡± in negotiating a plan to provide New York Container Terminal with a break on bridge tolls.

NYCT and the port authority this week agreed on a lease extension that will halve bridge tolls from their current $12-per-axle level for trucks serving the Staten Island terminal, which is in Grimm¡¯s district.

Grimm said the toll credits don¡¯t go far enough. He complained that the bridge toll credits would be phased out after NYCT reaches 350,000 container lifts per year. That¡¯s above the NYCT¡¯s 130,000 lifts last year but far below the 550,000 lifts the terminal handled in 2008, before the toll increases began, or NYCT¡¯s annual capacity of 670,000 lifts.

¡°You say you¡¯re coming out with a toll-relief plan that¡¯s the best thing since sliced bread, but it limits them at half of their capacity,¡± Grimm said. ¡°The container terminal is on life support.¡±

Foye disagreed that the terminal is on life support, and said the toll credit agreement is ¡°a fair deal.¡± He attempted to read a letter in which NYCT President Jim Devine explained the toll credits to customers and described the agreement as a positive development.

Grimm interrupted Foye twice, preventing him from quoting the letter. The congressman claimed terminal officials supported the deal because the port authority put ¡°a gun to their head¡± by tying it to the terminal¡¯s lease extension.

¡°As someone who investigated the Gambino crime family and the Mafia, I can tell you I know what Mafia tactics are and what gangster tactics are, and I don¡¯t appreciate it and neither do they,¡± said Grimm, a former FBI agent.

¡°Well, congressman, if you have evidence of wrongdoing, you should go to the district attorney,¡± Foye replied.

Grimm and Foye also jousted over how the toll revenue is spent. Foye said the money is used only for the port authority¡¯s bridges and tunnels, and to offset annual losses of $300 million for the agency¡¯s PATH subway and $100 million for the port authority bus terminal in Manhattan.

¡°Bridge and tunnel revenue is dedicated to the bridges and tunnels, the PATH and the port authority bus terminal, period,¡± Foye said.