August 14, 2020
Albany, NY

Audio & Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo on Federal Government's COVID-19 Response: 'This Has Been a Total Disgrace'

Governor Cuomo: "COVID-19 didn't bring any responsibility to Washington. This has been a total disgrace and the current Executive Orders by the President, the states are under dire financial circumstances so his suggestion is we now pay part of the unemployment insurance makes absolutely no sense."

Cuomo: "COVID-19 and the mishandling of COVID-19, I'll make a projection for you, COVID-19 is going to be the main factor in the November elections and Washington is going to fail the leadership test on COVID-19 and you will see it in all elections - Congressional, Senate and presidential. This is an historic crisis. People are afraid. You name the last time you had a situation controlled by government that had this impact on every American's life."

Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo commented on the federal government's response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, calling it a "total disgrace" that will be reflected in the November election results.

AUDIO of today's remarks is available here.

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

On the federal funds, I don't know what to tell you. They're playing politics. They've always been playing politics. COVID-19 didn't bring any responsibility to Washington. They started early on, 'we're not going to do any blue state bailouts.' McConnell, McConnell, 'let the states go bankrupt' - I'm still waiting for that law to pass, by the way. This has been a total disgrace and the current Executive Orders by the President, the states are under dire financial circumstances so his suggestion is we now pay part of the unemployment insurance makes absolutely no sense.

COVID-19 and the mishandling of COVID-19, I'll make a projection for you, COVID-19 is going to be the main factor in the November elections and Washington is going to fail the leadership test on COVID-19 and you will see it in all elections - Congressional, Senate and presidential. This is an historic crisis. People are afraid. You name the last time you had a situation controlled by government that had this impact on every American's life. By the way, you can go back to drafts - affected a large number of Americans. The children were drafted, families. You find me a time when you had a government issue that affected every American to these consequences, life and death.

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