Hochul celebrates infrastructure — and Biden

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Jul 08, 2024 View in browser   By Jason Beeferman Gov. Kathy Hochul celebrated President Joe Biden as she touted nearly $6.9 billion in federal funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project. | Don Pollard/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul TUNNELING INTO THE FUTURE: It’s been 11 days since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, and one thing remains clear: Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to be his lead surrogate. While some Democrats in congress are calling on the president to step down (at least five publicly so far, and at least four more privately), the New York governor made a point of celebrating Biden again today. “Yes, we will give praise to President Biden,” she said at an announcement for the Gateway Development Commission’s Hudson Tunnel Project. “I think we give him a huge round of applause for not just loving Amtrak, loving trains, but being truly the embodiment of what an infrastructure president actually is and does.” It was the first comments made by the governor since spending her July 4 holiday in Virginia, a four-day retreat bookended by stumping for Biden. On Wednesday, Hochul was one of a group of Democratic governors who gathered at the White House for a meeting with the president where they discussed Biden’s future as the nominee. After the meeting, Hochul gladly told reporters that "all" of the governors “pledged our support” to Biden. But hours later, reports showed Hochul’s characterization of the meeting was false: “there was no around-the-room ask for support and more than a half-dozen governors expressed concerns in the wake of Mr. Biden’s halting, whispered debate performance,” The New York Times wrote. Today’s praise from Hochul came during the celebration for the nearly $6.9 billion in federal funding for the Hudson tunnel. The joint effort from New York and New Jersey, which Sen. Chuck Schumer described as “probably the largest public works project in the country,” will create a new rail tunnel connecting the two states and also rehabilitate the existing tunnel. The major funding win comes as Hochul is still dealing with the fallout of her decision to indefinitely pause congestion pricing toll program weeks before it was set to start. The governor still has not come up with a solution to the $16.5 billion now missing from the MTA’s Capital Plan budget, even though she continues to promise that no MTA projects will be delayed. Billions of dollars expected in federal matching programs for projects like the Second Avenue Subway extension also hang in the balance. “As the governor cheers one project, her flip flop lost New York the biggest ever federal capital investment grant, which would have built the Second Avenue subway to East Harlem,” Danny Pearlstein, the spokesperson for transit advocacy group Riders Alliance, said in a statement today. “While wooing suburbanites, who hate her, the governor has abandoned millions of city bus and subway riders, who elected her and are stuck waiting for reliable and accessible public transit." Speaking to reporters at the Gateway announcement today, Deputy U.S. Department of Transportation secretary Polly Trottenberg also touched on congestion pricing. She told reporters that she was blindsided by Hochul’s decision to suspend the congestion pricing program. — Jason Beeferman   Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more.     From the Capitol The former lieutenant governor (center) has been fighting his federal bribery case since 2022. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo GRATUITIES ACCEPTED: A United States Supreme Court ruling narrowing federal laws against bribery could be good news for former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin as he fights his own case. A judge reinstated federal bribery charges against Benjamin in March. Meanwhile, his lawyer is trying to get his case heard by the highest court in the land, and was granted more time to file his cert petition until the court ruled on a similar bribery case, Snyder v. United States. The court did rule last month, finding that federal bribery law doesn’t apply to “gratuities,” or payment delivered after actions were taken. That’s good news for Benjamin, since federal prosecutors argued that he asked a Harlem developer for campaign donations only after requesting a government grant for the developer’s nonprofit organization. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which brought the case, declined to comment. Benjamin’s team has been trying to get them to drop the case for various reasons, Playbook has reported, including the fact that the developer who would be expected to testify died in February. — Jeff Coltin AROUND NEW YORK ADAMS’ ADVICE: New York City Mayor Eric Adams appears to see some of his political struggles mirrored in President Joe Biden’s and advised earlier today that the embattled top Democrat should do like he does: “Stay focused, no distractions and grind.” The once-close Democrats — who bonded over their blue-collar roots they had in common — fell out very publicly as Adams suggested repeatedly that Biden and the federal government had abandoned the city to deal with the influx of migrants on its own. But Adams has had no harsh words for Biden as the president faces ever-louder calls for him to leave the ticket — or risk the Democrats losing to Donald Trump in November. “I know what it is to have a bad day, a bad night, a bad moment, and people define you by that,” Adams said outside the mayoral home, Gracie Mansion, before pivoting to the topic of the news conference: containerized trash. Adams introduced the official New York City wheelie bin, now on sale for a discounted $45.88. Starting Nov. 12, all buildings with one to nine residential units will be required to put trash in bins on the curb, rather than piling bags on the street, as part of the administration’s continued war on rats. — Emily Ngo and Jeff Coltin — YOU’RE FIRED: Columbia University removed three administrators from their posts after the college said the individuals exchanged text messages that “disturbingly touched on ancient antisemitic tropes.” (AP News) — EYES ON HAKEEM: President Joe Biden’s fate could likely come down to House Minority Leader and Brooklyn congressman Hakeem Jeffries. (CNN) — MAYORAL RACE: Various expected campaigns for mayor are likely to trigger a cascade of office vacancies up for grabs in 2025. (The New York Times) Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? Read it here.   Follow us on Twitter Jason Beeferman @JasonBeeferman   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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