ALBANY, N.Y. - Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that he's using his executive power to expand which military families are eligible to have their tuition and other related university costs covered by the state. The Gold Star families, as they are known, include relatives of servicemen and women who were killed, severely injured or missing in action while on duty.

"We are 100% committed to supporting our veterans’ families,” Cuomo said. “And that is why I am taking this action."

But that wasn't the stance of some in Cuomo's own party as recently as last week when Assembly Democrats voted to block a bill in committee from advancing to the floor, which would have expanded the Gold Star scholarship program in exactly the same way.

That led to backlash, including from President Trump who tweeted, "In New York State, Democrats blocked a bill expanding tuition for Gold Star Families after approving aid for illegal immigrants. No wonder so many people are leaving New York. Very sad!"

"Killing this bill, which would have expended access to tuition. The same thing two months after they granted $27 million for the Dream Act, which would have given college tuition to illegal immigrants, I think the optics of it was terrible, and rightfully so. They took a lot of bad press," said State Senator Robert Ortt.

Initially, Assembly Democrats said the additional costs, expected to be several million dollars per year, needed to be done as part of the budget which passed in early April. Cuomo declined to directly criticize the Assembly, however.

"I'll leave that for the Assembly. They said there were timing issues. It's not uncommon to put all budget relevant issues together for the State budget,” Cuomo said. “If a bill has a financial consequence, the normal protocol is to do it in the budget."

The Governor also addressed congestion pricing. Answering concerns from New Jersey lawmakers that it will disproportionally affect their drivers, Cuomo says he spoke to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and they agreed the Port Authority will install new equipment at the Hudson River crossings to ensure that New Jersey drivers could potentially get the same discounts New York drivers are likely to get.