Governor Andrew Cuomo met with President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday at Trump Tower and says the two discussed several New York-centric issues, including the impact of any changes made to the Affordable Care Act and infrastructure projects. Bobby Cuza filed the following report.
For all his criticism of the Trump agenda in recent weeks, Governor Andrew Cuomo's meeting with the president-elect at Trump Tower Wednesday was, at least by his account, remarkably cordial.
Cuomo said he conveyed the devastating impact on New York of repealing Obamacare, and of eliminating the ability to deduct state and local taxes on your federal returns. But Cuomo said it was far from contentious.
"It was not adversarial," he said.
Cuomo, characterizing their meeting afterwards, said Trump—like him, born and raised in Queens—was knowledgeable on the issues and got the message.
"Look, he is a New Yorker. And my sense was, he understood what I was saying and the magnitude of what I was saying," Cuomo said.
On the plus side, Cuomo pointed to infrastructure, noting federal funding could help with planned upgrades to LaGuardia and JFK airports and the subway system.
"We are ready to go in New York. We are ready to build," Cuomo said. "If he wants to put some federal money to use and put federal money to use quickly, this is the state to do it."
Noting record homelessness in New York City, Cuomo also pushed for a bigger role for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
"I was the former HUD secretary. HUD could be a great, great ally to cities and states in actually combating homelessness," Cuomo said.
But Cuomo also made clear repeal of the Affordable Care Act would leave 3 million New Yorkers uninsured.
"It would have a dramatic impact on the state, and not just for those 3 million," Cuomo said. "We now live in a community where if you sneeze, I get sick, right? This is all about public health."
Cuomo will not be attending this weekend’s inauguration festivities in Washington, telling reporters, "I get paid to work in New York."