Source: US State of New York
arlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on SiriusXM’s “Mornings with Zerlina” with Zerlina Miller. The Governor spoke on her proposal for universal free school meals, the ongoing Budget negotiations and which challenges she is prioritizing from the Trump administration.
AUDIO: The Governor’s remarks are available in audio form here.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: Welcome back to “Mornings with Zerlina.” Joining us on the phone is the first woman to ever be Governor of the great State of New York. Governor Kathy Hochul is all on the line. Good morning, Governor.
Governor Hochul: Good morning.
Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: It is quite a time. There is so much going on and I’m so grateful that you were able to join us this morning.
One of the things we’ve been focused on since January 20 is the role and the importance of Democratic Governors in being the bulwark against some of the authoritarian moves of the Trump administration. How do you see yourself and your role as the Governor of New York in holding the line for democracy?
Governor Hochul: That’s an excellent question, and I appreciate the role that Congress plays. I’m a former member of Congress and I would’ve stayed if I had not voted to support the Affordable Care Act representing a very Republican district. So, I have been there. But also — now serving as Governor for the last three-and-a-half years — there is enormous power in being able to speak up with one voice to represent an entire state, a large state like New York, and to call out what is happening to not just the people of our state, but the people all across America. And if we abrogate that responsibility at this moment in history, then we’re not fulfilling our obligations to our citizens or to this nation, and that’s what I feel so strongly about — the role I can play now.
There are pathways to have a relationship that’s workable on infrastructure and other areas where there’s common interest with the Trump administration, but what I’ve said from the very beginning, and say it all the time: If you cross the line and you come after policies and programs that help New Yorkers and take them away, or you challenge our very values — the ideals that we hold dear in the State of New York — then you have a fight with me.
So, that’s our position.
Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: What are some of the things that you’re speaking up about?
Governor Hochul: Well, first of all, women’s rights — and this is an issue we have, actually with a judge right now in Louisiana who’s trying to force us to extradite a medical doctor, an abortion provider who prescribed telemedicine abortion pills to a family, a woman and her mother in Louisiana.
They want me to extradite this person and send her there to face criminal charges. This is, again, a fallout from administration stacking the Supreme Court, overturning Roe v. Wade and the fallout continues all these years later. So, standing up for women’s rights, but also, Medicaid. I was out the very first days they talked about undoing the Medicaid promise that we’ve made to our citizens since the 1960s that we will take care of them. They think it’s just people in poverty who aren’t working — they are wrong. These are our senior citizens in nursing homes and these are programs for children. So, I’ve been out there speaking out strongly on those issues.
Now we have cuts to FEMA. Are you kidding me? Have they watched the news? Did they see the weather? They see the devastation all across America and at this time of great crisis, you are now talking about eliminating FEMA assistance for states. So, I will tell you this — on education, school lunches, I was in a school just a couple days ago saying, “Don’t touch this essential program that the Department of Education provides,” and there’s almost too much and, in that sense, you have to be a little bit selective or your voice becomes just one of many and you really have to pick your fights.
But I have to say this, there are plenty of fights to choose from.
Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: There are plenty of fights to choose from. Just the ones you just listed off — the Medicaid cuts, FEMA cuts, Department of Education. I feel like cutting the department — I mean they’re really cutting everywhere. You have Elon Musk and his unelected crew of “tech bros,” I guess is the way to describe them. Running from agency to agency and cutting staff and funding. I mean, talk a bit about the impact specifically of the Department of Education cuts in addition to the free school lunches, because I think that that is still very much new, right? It just happened and so the impact has not necessarily been felt by everyone yet.
Governor Hochul: Right. Before I get to that, let me just quickly say that when we first started seeing these cuts from Elon Musk, we took an exact opposite approach here. We actually have advertising in Union Station in Washington and here in New York at Penn Station. People going on a train see the message, which Elon Musk may say, “You are fired,” but in New York, we say, “You’re hired.” We are trying to hire these individuals because they’re enormously talented. We value public servants. We know the critical role they have in keeping the plane safe, and protecting our nuclear codes, and making sure social security checks are received by our grandparents and parents.
But on education, New York State receives about $5 billion in assistance, whether it’s $2 billion for Pell Grants — creating that pathway to a higher education, which changes everything, including my own family’s trajectory — $2 billion for school lunches. I mean, you have to go to some of these school lunch rooms and know that there are children whose stomach should be growling throughout the day because their parents, their mom, most likely, did not have the ability to pack that lunch, send them along with money to buy lunch and these are the kids that are the collateral damage of this war on government.
And if we as moms and parents — first Mom Governor of New York — if I don’t use my voice to stand up for those children across my state in this nation, then what am I doing here? And that’s how strongly I feel about these fights when it comes to the education cuts. There’s a lot of uncertainty and chaos, and we’re trying to do our Budget here in the State of New York, not knowing whether or not the $93 billion we receive from the federal government is going to be affected, so it’s complicating things. But, if our voices don’t rise up at this moment, then why are we sitting in these seats?
Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: In the last few minutes here, I want to ask about tariffs because one of the things that is true about New York, it is quite large and it goes up right on the line of Canada and some of the folks who live in New York — the farmers and the folks who benefit from being able to have small businesses in that area will be impacted by Trump’s tariffs. Talk a bit about, number one, the impact and what you can do as Governor to protect their interests.
Governor Hochul: That is something that has been top of mind, particularly in our farm community. Literally on Saturday morning, I was out celebrating Maple Syrup Weekends. New York is the number two producer of maple syrup in the nation, so I was out there with farmers.
They said, “What will the tariffs do to you out in this rural area?” Probably a red county. I’m pretty sure that the father who ran the farm was a Republican supervisor, and they are so frightened about tariffs for their farms. Everything from the steel that goes into how they process the maple syrup all the way to the fertilizer.
I mean, how many people think about fertilizer? There’s something called potash — most of it from our country, in New York, particularly — comes from Canada and it’s only manufactured in Canada, Ukraine, and Russia. So I’d rather get it from Canada any day of the week. But this is what’s jeopardized. So it’s the farm community that is really, really, really anxious at a time when they don’t need this extra stress.
But also, I’m from Buffalo. I’m from Western New York. The synergy between Ontario and Western New York. It is just one large committee. Everybody supports the Buffalo Bills, everybody watches the hockey games, and so there’s a lot of cross pollination. This is not a foreign country to us. These are our friends to the north, so there’s a lot of business exchange, a lot of trade back-and-forth.
We have a $50 billion trade balance, which is pretty much in balance with our largest trading partner, which is Canada. That being jeopardized sends chills down the spines of our business leaders who don’t know whether all their costs, all the materials they need. We get so much lumber, we build housing with lumber from Canada, and what is that going to do to our ability to be able to build the housing that I am pushing for — to make up for years of people not having the ambition to do it.
So, I have to say this: The ripple effect touches every sector of our economy here in New York. And what that means, contrary to what Donald Trump promised, which is lower prices on Election Day. Remember he said that countless times on the campaign trail? The opposite is true.
Prices are going up and will be going up. And lastly, Canada, because they’re frustrated with these policies — threatened to raise our energy costs that we get from Canada by 25 percent. Now, that is the last thing New Yorkers need right now is a higher energy bill because of the Trump tariffs. So it’s wide ranging and my fear is only just beginning.
Zerlina Miller, SiriusXM: In the last few minutes here, I wanted to ask you about being somebody who has to stand up for the people in the State of New York against the administration that is trying to grab all the power that they can in such a short amount of time. Do you ever feel afraid or nervous about becoming a target by this administration? They obviously are targeting and attacking people who stand up against them.
Governor Hochul: No, fear is never an option for someone in my position. Fear is paralyzing at this moment in history when we’re called to stand up to basically the disintegration, the destruction of our democracy and our nation as we know it.
I do not want to be, as Theodore Roosevelt described as “The Man in the Arena,” which I changed to “The Woman in the Arena.” I will never be the timid soul on the sidelines, questioning what others do. I will be in that arena. I will stand up. I will cooperate and have a partnership with the Trump administration on areas of mutual interest.
And I will do that because it’s important to my state to get Penn Station redone and focus on infrastructure. But I said this in my first call with the president, after he was elected, I said, “But I will stand up to you. You go after women’s rights, you have to get through me. You’re going to challenge my citizens on issues. And my immigrant community, we are going to have a fight.” So I cannot let fear dictate how I respond. I must govern with strength at this moment. And then that’s exactly what we’re doing.
Zerlina Miller, Sirius XM: New York Governor Kathy Hochul, thank you so much for being with us. It’s Women’s History Month, it’s the perfect time to have this conversation. Thank you, again. Come back anytime.
Governor Hochul: Alright, thank you. Bye-bye.
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