Cuomo to meet with Trump on coronavirus, push infrastructure: ‘No better time to build than right now’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he will travel to Washington D. C. for a meeting Wednesday with President Trump to discuss a number of topics amid efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, including a way to begin working on critical infrastructure projects to jumpstart the economy.

Cuomo, during his press briefing, outlined the country’s “major infrastructure needs” that Trump has repeatedly discussed, including in a potential “Phase 4” coronavirus stimulus package.

“Everyone has identified the same problem, Democrats and Republicans, but nobody has done anything,” Cuomo said Tuesday. “If there’s ever a time to actually take on this overdue need of major infrastructure construction, now is the time. There is no better time to build than right now.”

Cuomo added that “you need to restart the economy, you need to create jobs, and you need to renew and repair this country’s economy and its infrastructure.”

“I’m going to go to Washington tomorrow,” Cuomo said Tuesday during his press briefing. “Scheduled to meet with the president to talk about a number of things.”

He added: “You want to reopen the economy, let’s do something creative. Let’s do it fast.”

Cuomo went on to note several New York-centric infrastructure projects, which he hopes to accelerate amid coronavirus.

“Now is the time to do it,” he said. “The time to do this work is now when you need the jobs and the volume is low, and New York will lead the way.”

Cuomo noted that the Empire Station Project, which would build a new Penn Station in New York City, is “long overdue.”

“Penn Station has been torturing people for too long,” he said. “Let’s accelerate while ridership is low and we need the jobs.”

Cuomo also added that New York would accelerate construction on LaGuardia Airport while “traffic is low, passenger volume is low.”

“Let’s do the things we’ve been talking about,” he said, adding renewable power and other areas of cri... (Read more)

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