MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
With Republicans in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, many of those who don't agree with their direction are looking to Democratic governors to fight back. And Trump is not being shy about punching back on them, like when he called out Maine's Governor Janet Mills last month over transgender policy during a meeting with governors at the White House.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Your population doesn't want men playing in women's sports.
JANET MILLS: I'll follow the law.
TRUMP: So you better comply because otherwise you're not getting any federal funding.
MILLS: See you in court.
TRUMP: Every state - good, I'll see you in court. I look forward to that. That should be a real easy one.
MARTIN: The Trump administration is also demanding that New York scrap a hard-fought congestion pricing program that just started in January. It uses higher tolls to reduce traffic into a big part of Manhattan and raise money for transit improvements. The administration says they want it ended by March 21. New York's governor, Kathy Hochul, is on the line with us now to talk about that and some other things. Good morning.
KATHY HOCHUL: Good morning. How are you?
MARTIN: Good. Thank you so much for joining us. So you were at that session at the White House that we just mentioned, but you also met with the president to defend the congestion pricing plan. Did you think you were making any headway?
HOCHUL: Well, I have to be in the fight no matter what. I mean, they may think they have the power over states. And let me just make an observation here. The federal administration believes that states should be controlling women's bodies, they should be the ones who decide whether or not there's reproductive rights in individual states. We've seen that New York will retain its rights. Other states have lost them. So when it comes to controlling bodies, it's all about the states. When it comes to controlling traffic, they're saying New York is a state. I can't make those decisions. I can't implement laws that were put in place by duly elected officials.
So this is where the conflict comes in, and we will fight back hard. I mean, it's very early in the administration. We offered up an olive branch. We'll work with you on infrastructure. Let's redo Penn Station. There's areas where common ground. But once you draw first blood on us, you know, we're coming back hard. And I will be leading the resistance on policies like these where you're hurting New Yorkers directly. This is our decision, not yours.
MARTIN: Are you talking with fellow governors about a united strategy to counter initiatives like this, where, again, you know, federal funding is being threatened? Is there some sort of coherent strategy among all of you?
HOCHUL: Well, there's many conversations. Each state has its own fight to take, but there's something that's overarching, which is cuts to Medicaid. Every single state, based on what the Republicans and the House voted on just a few days ago, is devastating to our rural hospitals, and a place like St. Mary's Healthcare, where I visited yesterday with Congresswoman Grace Meng and Congressman Greg Meeks to talk about how these medically challenged kids, the sickest of the sick, are going to lose Medicaid if the Republicans from New York and elsewhere have their way.
And I came out strong against them. And I said, how dare you do something that's going to hurt these little children? Come here yourselves. Look them in the eyes. Look at their parents' eyes and see the suffering and tell them that you're willing to cut a program that keeps their babies alive. So this is where Democratic governors, we know how strong we need to be. And this moment calls for all of us to be the firewall to stand up against this destruction of policies that are helping people and have been in place for decades and decades.
MARTIN: Is that your primary mode of resistance to call attention to the suffering that will ensue, or is there other - are there other strategies?
HOCHUL: Oh, no. There's many ways. We are in litigation since Day 1. Our attorney general, Tish James, and I work closely together. And this is where governors and attorneys general are all working together. So you - much of it starts in court, and we were able to successfully work together in litigation to at least temporarily stop a lot of the firings.
MARTIN: Well, it's - that's one of the points, though. There are a number of lawsuits all around the country, but they - they're - some of them have been successful in instituting temporary restraining orders and some of them have not. So what then? If these firings are already taking place, what then? And services are compromised.
HOCHUL: Right, no. There's - I will say this - there's not a lot of great options. I mean, we have a Republican White House, Republican Senate and Republican House of Representatives, but elections come around very quickly. And it is our job to fight back in court, resist the way we are on congestion pricing. Each individual policy demands a different response. But overall, this changes in 2026. When we work so hard here in New York and elsewhere to make Hakeem Jeffries the speaker of the House. And then, just like when I was in Congress, when the Tea Party took over, Republicans controlled the House, but we had the Senate to stop the crazy stuff from happening. We need one of the Houses...
MARTIN: Yeah, that's not the case now.
HOCHUL: ...To...
MARTIN: Before we let you go, Governor, I just have to ask. Your predecessor, Andrew Cuomo, who resigned and now he's announcing a run for mayor, you were once running mates in his race for governor. What do you make of his attempt at a comeback? Is he the right person at the right time for this job?
HOCHUL: Listen, anybody who wants to run for office can do so, but my focus is not on politics. I will work with a mayor. I worked with Bill de Blasio. I work with Eric Adams. I'll work with anyone who wants to continue my policies to make sure we keep the city safe and strong.
MARTIN: That is the governor of New York, Kathy Hochul. Governor, thank you so much for joining us. I do hope we'll talk again.
HOCHUL: Certainly. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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