Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Calls on Republican Members of New York's Congressional Delegation to Fight for State, Local Aid in Federal Stimulus Package

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo called on Republican members of New York's Congressional Delegation to fight for state and local aid in the federal stimulus package, which is expected to be announced this week.

The Governor also provided an update on the recently formed multi-agency task force to combat violations of coronavirus-related regulations at bars and restaurants. The State Liquor Authority and New York State Police Task Force issued 105 violations to establishments downstate on Friday and Saturday. Businesses found in violation of social distancing regulations face fines up to $10,000 per violation, while egregious violations can result in the immediate suspension of their liquor license.

AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good morning everybody, happy Sunday. I have Melissa DeRosa, Robert Mujica, Gareth Rhodes with me, just because we like to spend the mornings together. Today is day 148. We have really good news today. New York did 53,568 tests yesterday. 536 positive. That is 1 percent on the head positive. Number of deaths yesterday, three. Three deaths yesterday. So that was just great, really great great news. 637 hospitalized, that's down nine from the day before, that's a new low for us since March 18th. So really great news.

What's the but? The but is the constant caution with this virus. Don't get cocky, don't get arrogant, there are still threats that are out there. You still have the national threat and then you have the compliance challenge. National threat, there's 35 states that are seeing increases. 66,000 new COVID cases yesterday. 800 deaths yesterday. We have the quarantine in place, we're aggressive about the enforcement of the quarantine. And then we have the compliance challenge, especially for young people, especially around bars. I once again ask local governments to do their job.

State government has gotten more aggressive. We've put together a task force of the State Liquor Authority and the State Police. Over Friday and Saturday night, they did 105 violations. They've been focusing on the downstate area, but the 105 are across downstate. They're Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Nassau, Suffolk. So literally in every county in downstate New York City down. They have had violations. They're going to be doing additional suspensions that they will do tomorrow. The suspensions are done by the board. The investigator cannot issue a suspension. They can issue a violation. The board has to suspend, and the board will be meeting to talk about it tomorrow.

The other issue that we have to focus on this week is the Washington aid package. The $600 unemployment check ends. That is going to really cause havoc and tremendous distress for people. If the unemployment stops, Washington is playing politics, they have gridlock. The Republicans don't even have a proposal on the table. But they're about to end unemployment for people. State and local, there's still no progress. There is no economic analyst who will say it's good for the economy to starve the states and local governments. They'll say the exact opposite.

I call on all Republican electeds in this state to stand united with the people of the state, encouraging support for New York State. We have about a $14 billion loss of revenue. We have about a $5 billion cost of this COVID virus. We know that we'd have to have drastic budget cuts if we don't get aid. So I'd ask the Republican congresspeople, put your politics aside. Stand up, call on your colleagues to actually do the right thing and represent the people of the state rather than your political party, and do it as loudly as you play politics for your party. Because if we don't get state aid from Washington it's going to be a very bad situation for this state and the people in this state.