Coronavirus Meeting: Gov. Cuomo Goes To Washington DC For Face-To-Face With President Trump
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Gov. Andrew Cuomo travelled to the White House on Tuesday as he seeks federal help with coronavirus testing.
President Donald Trump and Cuomo have clearly had an up and down relationship but Tuesday was all about the facts and the difficulty of being at Ground Zero of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports CBS2's political reporter Marcia Kramer.
"He tells me when he agrees, I have no problem telling him when I disagree," said Cuomo before leaving New York for the meeting. "You know what? Heck with it, just tell the truth. Whatever it is, it is."
It's the first time the two met in person since New York became the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States.
Cuomo tried to convince the president that while it's the state's job to actually do the testing, it's the feds' job to get the test kits, either from American manufacturers or from abroad.
"From my point of view, I think the federal government has to take that national manufacturer or supply chain issue, then I have to put together an army of tracers, that's thousands of people," said Cuomo. "It's never been done before. I'll take all of that. Just don't give me guilt, and make me look bad."
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The governor also wants the president and Congress to come up with funds to provide hazard pay for frontline workers, and to provide budget aid. New York's tab is now as much as $15 billion. The governor bemoaned the fact that as of now, the latest stimulus package has no direct budget aid for states.
"I think it's a terrible mistake not to provide funding for the states," said Cuomo. "I get small businesses, I get airlines. How about police? How about fire? How about healthcare workers? How about teachers? We're not going to fund schools? I don't get it."
Cuomo says he's now willing to allow some upstate hospitals to do elective surgery, just not the ones in New York City or in the suburbs where the beds are still needed to fight the virus.
Both the governor and the president later described the meeting as "productive."
"I stayed focused on what we were there to talk about, and for me, the substance of the agenda was testing. Who does what? How do we get it up to scale? And somebody has to stand up for funding for the states," Cuomo said.
The governor says he and the president came to an agreement on what states control, including the labs and production, and that the feds would handle the supply chain.
"States cannot do international supply chains," Cuomo said.
"The federal government will work along with the state on the national manufacturers and distributors together. We'll all work together," Trump said.
Cuomo says the goal will be to double testing to 40,000 a day, and the president says the feds will do their part.
"It ends the whole back-and-forth and the finger-pointing in a very fair and smart way. It's a smart resolution, so I feel very good about that," Cuomo said.
Another issue for the governor -- money for the states.
He says New York is broke and needs help from the feds.
"The president said he understood the issue and that he would work very hard to get funding for the state," Cuomo said.
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In the meantime, Democratic leaders say they reached a compromise with the White House on a nearly $500 billion stimulus package.
"We wanted a deal with the butcher and the baker and the candle-stick maker, the average small business person," Sen. Chuck Schumer said.
"This also gives us $50 billion for disaster loans, idle loans, that will allow the SBA to make $300 billion of disaster loans, all for small businesses," Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said.
The governor says doubling the state's testing capabilities is an enormous undertaking, and it could take several weeks at best to get it done.
