Governor Hochul: “What they're proposing is basically reverse Robin Hood. They're taking from the poor to give to the rich and people need to rebel against that. And we have seven Republicans. All it took was one of them. One of them could have cast a different vote and on behalf of their constituents — the people who rely on these hospitals, who rely on Medicaid.”
Hochul: “It's not just going to hurt people on Medicaid. It's going to hurt everybody because they won't be there for you. When your child gets sick, they will not be there.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”
AUDIO: The Governor's interview is available in audio form here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Jonathan Lemire, MSNBC: Switching gears now, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries rallied against Republicans' steep federal health care cuts in Brooklyn yesterday. The pair say that the GOP’s quote, “one big ugly bill,” will have major consequences for patients and health care providers. The Governor's Office estimates the bill will leave 1.5 million New Yorkers uninsured and will devastate hospitals and clinics statewide.
And let's now indeed bring in New York's Democratic Governor, Kathy Hochul. Mike Barnicle, always happy to have the Governor here. Always happy.
Mike Barnicle, MSNBC: Always. Always a joy to see you.
Governor Hochul: Thank you, Mike.
Mike Barnicle, MSNBC: Dealing with the federal government, as you do nearly every single day, the role of the federal government in New York State is obviously enormous. What happens when the federal government tries to intervene with people's rights to walk along a sidewalk because they assume that they may be Middle Eastern, they may be not from this country, they may not have visa rights — so masked people jump out of these huge SUVs and apprehend people who are here legally — is there any role for New York State or any role for the Governor of the State of New York to intervene here to do anything about that?
Governor Hochul: Let me just get back to what Jonathan says. I feel like we're under attack every single day by the federal government. You just mentioned the fact that we can't develop vaccinations — we are always the place where the vaccinations spread the quickest. We're a very dense city. And I want to make sure they're developing vaccinations. And I want my three-year-old granddaughter to be able to get a COVID shot and my pregnant daughter to get a COVID shot. So my number one job as Governor is to protect people. So now you're undermining our ability to make sure they're healthy with just preventative care, and now you're attacking people walking down the streets of New York City.
I have said this before and I'll repeat it ever forever: the State of New York will assist ICE in the deportation and apprehension of people who are serious criminals, violent offenders. None of us want them on our streets. But now you're going after individuals, not just on the streets of New York City, Mike. They took a third grader out of her bed at 6:00 a.m. in Sackets Harbor, which is Tom Homan’s hometown. Her dad was already milking cows at 6:00 a.m. They took her mother and her teenage twin brothers, scooped them up and dumped them in a detention center for 11 days. I raised hell — how dare you do this?
And this was the most Republican part of our state. It's Elise Stefanik’s district. And the Republican farmer — literally it's called Old McDonald's Farm, it's been there for five generations. They were shocked. This community rallied behind this hard working immigrant family.
So that's what's happening not just here in New York, but on farms all over New York, and it is debilitating for our farm community and people who just want to live their lives. They run our bodegas. They work in our restaurants. They provide health care, home health care aides to our seniors. The hospitals I was in yesterday, this is a place where so many of them work.
And I think it's just so reprehensible that this is the exact opposite of what Republicans and Donald Trump said they would do, “We're going after the worst of the worst, the bad guys,” and they're not doing that. They're going after students, they're going after high school students. So this has reached a scale where there's not a lot we can do personally, I can't stand in front of them and stop them, but I can use my voice, my platform and call them out, and continue to call on the seven Republicans who occupy seats in the State of New York and say, “Where are you? Use your voice. You're in the majority. Stop abdicating your responsibility when it comes to stopping the decimating of Medicaid, Medicare.”
So I'm very frustrated with this. I'm fighting all the time. I'm on the front lines with Hakeem Jeffries as we were yesterday. But this is a level of attack that was unforeseeable, but it has to be stopped, and we have to raise our voices louder and louder.
Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: Why don't we, Governor? Why don't we talk about what's happening right now? And I'm so glad you talked about a farm in Upstate New York because it shows.
You have people that are constantly trying to divide New York from Iowa, from Arizona, from California, acting like there's a red-state-America and a blue-state-America. When you're talking about health care and you're talking about slashing Medicaid, as Joni Ernst found out in her town hall meeting — which she responded terribly to — and as many of these Republicans and Upstate New York are going to find out, Medicaid is not just for people in urban centers in America, for big city hospitals. In fact, it's rural hospitals who are getting damaged disproportionately.
Talk about the dangers, whether you're talking about Joni Ernst's constituents in Iowa, or your constituents in Upstate New York. Talk about the impact of these Medicaid cuts.
Governor Hochul: Joe, you know Upstate New York as well because your formative years were spent in our Southern Tier, that is literally technically Appalachia. I would march in my old congressional district. I represented the most Republican district in the State of New York, the most rural. I was in those neighborhoods and those communities where people said not only have they never voted for a Democrat, they've never seen a Democrat. So that's part of New York State.
So the largest employer in most of my counties was the county hospital. And as Governor, I've spent an enormous amount of money just propping them up because they don't have the money. They shut down. It's not just going to hurt people on Medicaid. It's going to hurt everybody because they won't be there for you.
When your child gets sick, they will not be there. And I lost my seat in Congress because I voted for the Affordable Care Act. Many of us lost our seats at that time and I would do it all over again because I knew there were people in that district that still needed this coverage, even though it seems they vote against their interest sometimes, but I'll continue fighting to make sure their voices are lifted up. It's not just an urban problem, it is all over the country and our state in particular.
And if we lose $3 billion for hospitals, I can't say we're going to be able to keep all of my hospitals open. I cannot say that right now. They have to back off and what they're proposing is basically reverse Robin Hood. They're taking from the poor to give to the rich and people need to rebel against that. And we have seven Republicans. All it took, Joe and Mika, it was one of them.
One of them could have cast a different vote and on behalf of their constituents, the people who rely on these hospitals, who rely on Medicaid because their grandma's in the nursing home, or their kids are — one out of half of all kids in New York State are on Medicaid because they're looking out for children. And none of them had the courage to do it. They didn't have the guts to stand up and do what was right in their own districts. And there will be consequences next year, I assure you.
Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: And, Jonathan Lemire — for people to understand it — I don't understand why Republicans, whether it's in New York State or Iowa, don't understand this. Whether you're talking about Elise Stefanik’s district in upstate New York, or as the Governor said,here I grew up in between Elmira and Corning, New York, and beautiful downtown, Big Flats, New York. These are all areas — Elmira especially — but these are all areas that depend on Medicaid. And you get out the painted post outside of Corning or you go in rural Iowa.
As the Governor said, a huge percentage of children get their primary care from Medicaid. A huge percentage of seniors get their health care and nursing home care from Medicaid. So those cuts don't just impact New York State. They impact Iowa, they impact all 50 states, and Republicans are just barreling towards these cuts. While, again, let's say it again, adding $20 trillion to the national debt.
Jonathan Lemire, MSNBC: Yeah. And we see how defensive they are. We played the clip from Speaker Johnson earlier in the show, and of course, Senator Ernst, extraordinarily tone deaf moment there at the town hall. So Governor, I wanted to end by asking you about your, the relationship between the federal government and New York State, and particularly the President of the United States, who is a New Yorker by birth, even if he doesn't really call it at home anymore.
You have been able to work with him on a few things. You've mentioned a wind farm that you've been able to save. There's new development around Penn Station and Port the Port Authority, but at the same time, you’ve had to clash with him on a few things including congestion pricing where they have tried to meddle with what you say is a local issue.So how would you assess this balancing act of the relationship you're trying to pull off with the president?
Governor Hochul: Very complicated. As I said to the President in my first conversation, “I'm willing to find common ground with you.” I worked for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the time that Joe refers to often when Tip O'Neill could work with Ronald Reagan and there was a collaborative spirit. I was willing to go down that path and that's why we are actually moving ahead with Penn Station. I kept raising this over and over as an opportunity to work together with federal dollars.
That offshore wind farm will power 500,000 homes in Brooklyn with renewable energy. I fought hard to save that — we were successful. But when he goes after our values as New Yorkers standing up for individuals and their rights and separating families who came here just like my grandparents did, in search of a better life for their kids. My grandfather was a migrant farm worker. My parents lived in a trailer park. People struggle when they first come here, but then their kids are successful generation by generation.
I want to make sure we get rid of people who are seriously committing crimes, but leave the rest alone. They already made it here. They're part of our family, and this is where it's a huge divide and they have me testifying before the House Oversight Committee in just about a week to justify our policies. And I'll be proud to stand up for what New York is all about. We have the Statue of Liberty in our harbor. And it'll always be a welcoming place for those who want to work and have a better life.
Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC: New York State's Democratic Governor, Kathy Hochul. Thank you.