| | | | |  | | By Jason Beeferman | |  Gov. Kathy Hochul in the Bronx on Monday. Hochul must now solve five problems after her congestion pricing policy change, according to state Sen. Liz Krueger. | Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul | ALBANY, IN A MINUTE: The King and the Queen of the Netherlands are set to visit Albany tomorrow and attend a reception at the Governor’s Mansion, along with other events in the capital region. The last time Dutch royalty visited Albany an entire neighborhood was later ripped up. We’ll see what’s in store for tomorrow. FORGONE DECONGESTANTS: Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature delivered a number of wins for advocates this year, but you might not have realized amid the flurry over congestion pricing. On the last day of the annual legislative session, legislators rammed through a “Climate Superfund” bill that would raise $3 billion annually by charging fossil fuel companies for their share of historical emissions contributing to climate change. The governor also pushed through the nation’s first measure that aims to limit the reach of addictive social media algorithms on kids. She was set to hold a signing for the bill, the SAFE Act, today with its sponsors. Under the cloud of a congestion pricing change, that event was nixed. "The governor could be taking the mother of all victory laps in getting her nation-leading social media bills passed, but instead all anyone is talking about is this congestion pricing debacle,” one Albany insider said. The two monumental measures have been overshadowed by Hochul’s abrupt about-face on congestion pricing and the sudden — and so far fruitless — scramble to find a way to make up for the $1 billion in annual revenue the program was meant to deliver. Other bills, like the NY Heat Act, were in late-stage three-way leadership discussions that got distracted by the need to solve the congestion pricing revenue problem. The governor vowed on Monday to eventually find a funding source for the projects that were planned to be built with the congestion pricing revenue, saying her team had “no lack of imagination” to fix the issue. “The ball is in her court to some degree,” said Manhattan state Sen. Liz Krueger, the chair of the Senate’s powerful finance committee who has been a vocal critic of the governor’s congestion pricing reversal. “She has said, ‘I have lots of other ideas.’ I'm waiting to see or hear any of them.” According to Krueger, there’s five problems the governor must now solve:
- Billions in planned revenue that disappeared overnight.
- A severe traffic crisis that’s worse now than it’s ever been.
- An environmental emissions problem that will “continue unabated” without congestion pricing.
- A federal government will stop providing matching funds for the projects outlined in the congestion pricing-funded capital plan.
- A bond market has already signaled its distaste with the congestion pricing reversal, threatening the authority’s ability to borrow for any project.
“I think she's got five problems she needs to resolve, and I certainly believe the easiest solution is just allow congestion pricing to go forward as planned,” Krueger said.
“We believe, both Houses, that we have to fix this problem, but it was a self-created problem,” Krueger said. “I think my colleagues, my constituents, the environmental community, the transit community, the business community, the editorial boards are all looking at the governor, saying, ‘OK, Governor, you said no to this. What the hell are you going to do now?’” In a statement, the governor’s spokesperson Avi Small defended Hochul’s ability to champion bills like the SAFE Act and Climate Superfund Act amid the congestion pricing announcement. “In a state of 20 million people, there are always important issues going on,” Small said. “Governor Hochul celebrated the passage of New York's nation-leading legislation to protect kids online during her end-of-session Red Room press conference, and looks forward to signing the bill into law later this month.” — Jason Beeferman | | | | THE GOLD STANDARD OF POLICY REPORTING & INTELLIGENCE: POLITICO has more than 500 journalists delivering unrivaled reporting and illuminating the policy and regulatory landscape for those who need to know what’s next. Throughout the election and the legislative and regulatory pushes that will follow, POLITICO Pro is indispensable to those who need to make informed decisions fast. The Pro platform dives deeper into critical and quickly evolving sectors and industries—finance, defense, technology, healthcare, energy—equipping policymakers and those who shape legislation and regulation with essential news and intelligence from the world’s best politics and policy journalists.
Our newsroom is deeper, more experienced, and better sourced than any other—with teams embedded in the world’s most active legislative and regulatory power centers. From Brussels to Washington, New York to London, Sacramento to Paris, we bring subscribers inside the conversations that determine policy outcomes and the future of industries, providing insight that cannot be found anywhere else. Get the premier news and policy intelligence service, SUBSCRIBE TO POLITICO PRO TODAY. | | | | | |  | From the Capitol | | | |  Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced questions from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic today. | AP | CUOMO SPEAKS: Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo unleashed his most expansive defense today of his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and drew a comparison to ex-President Donald Trump in the process. Cuomo spent hours today speaking in a closed-door session to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, a GOP-led panel which has called figures like Anthony Fauci to discuss pandemic-era policy. And Cuomo has, in part, seized on the ongoing partisan split over the pandemic, casting the effort by GOP lawmakers as an inherently political one. But in at times lawyerly testimony to the committee, Cuomo insisted his administration’s controversial order to require nursing homes not turn away Covid-positive patients aligned with federal rules at the time, as well as 11 other states. He also drew a parallel to Trump’s complaints that the Department of Justice unfairly targeted him. Cuomo noted the DOJ during the Trump administration only probed Democratic-led states. “It is unethical, illegal and an abuse of government power and resources,” Cuomo said, according to testimony he provided in advance of addressing the panel. “Ironically, I have heard President Trump make this case many times over the past few months. It’s wrong when Republicans do it, and it’s wrong when Democrats do it.” The former governor was “very Cuomo-esque” during the proceeding, upstate Republican Rep. Marc Molinaro said. “He was at times adversarial, he was at times defensive,” Molinaro, who was in the room, told Playbook. Cuomo became a global star in the initial weeks of the pandemic with his news conferences serving as a balm for a largely captive audience of people stuck at home. But the nursing home order would soon overshadow how his administration was addressing the crisis. A report released by Attorney General Tish James 10 months later found the state undercounted the number of people who perished in nursing homes. Cuomo today blamed Republican attacks for the reputational hit on his pandemic policies. “However, assuming you believe your theory that COVID entered the nursing homes by patients coming from hospitals with deadly results, the policies you blame were set by the federal government,” he told lawmakers. Family members of nursing home residents who died said Cuomo’s appearance to questions was a relief after years of pushing for answers. “Covid doesn’t know political parties,” Peter Arbeeny, whose father died in April 2020, told Playbook. “But Gov. Cuomo has successfully made this about politics, when it’s not about politics. It’s a life and death issue.” — Nick Reisman
| | IN OTHER NEWS | | | | 
New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said congestion pricing would be a boost to public health and save lives. | Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office | | New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan on Tuesday lamented Hochul’s move to block congestion pricing, saying the policy’s implementation would have had a clear, long-term public health impact. “We’d love to see that kind of leadership to take this forth,” he said during an event at Gracie Mansion for HealthyNYC, an Adams administration initiative to extend New Yorkers’ life expectancy to over 83 years by 2030. Among HealthyNYC’s stated priorities is the promotion of strategies to improve infrastructure, climate resilience and air quality — recognizing that climate change is, in and of itself, a public health crisis. Each year, for example, some 350 New Yorkers die due to hot weather, according to a HealthyNYC report. “Congestion pricing will save lives,” Vasan told POLITICO after Tuesday’s event. “It’ll improve health. It’ll improve our communities.” Asked if he will press Hochul to reverse course, Vasan responded, “That’s a little bit above my pay grade.” Adams administration officials have voiced conflicting opinions on Hochul’s decision to yank support for the tolling plan. The mayor on Tuesday told reporters he welcomes the division, saying: “These are very passionate issues. I don’t want robots in my administration.” — Maya Kaufman — FAKE DONORS: A primary challenger to Assemblymember Ron Kim is said to have abused the state’s campaign finance matching system to reap thousands in matching funds from individuals who said they’d never donated to him. (The New York Times) — IN OPINION: A HIGH-MINDED DECISION. The New York Daily News’ editorial board continued its blunt condemnation of Hochul’s congestion pricing reversal in a new piece this morning. “Maybe some of the smoke from the illegal pot shops is wafting into the diners where government policy seems to be made nowadays,” the board writes. (New York Daily News) — WEED MAIL: A trove of internal emails from the state’s Office of Cannabis Management show cannabis officials colorfully and repeatedly criticizing Hochul’s legal weed rollout. (The City) — DSA, TRIED AND TRUE: Rep. Jamaal Bowman told members of the Democratic Socialists of America in a private meeting that he actually never let his membership with the organization lapse and that he backs many of their views on Israel. (New York Times) — NASSAU COUNTY’S TRANS BAN: A bill to ban transgender female athletes from competing in athletic events at county-owned facilities has cleared committee and is headed to a vote before the full county legislature. But also there aren’t any examples of transgender females asking to play on women's teams in the county. (Newsday) | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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