New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says if President Trump wants a fight with the nation’s governors, “he’s not gonna get it from me.”
At his daily briefing, Cuomo said he’s extending a hand to President Trump and New York and the federal government will have to solve the problems of COVID-19 together.
At the same time, Governor Cuomo said President Trump’s statement that he has total authority over the states “cannot go uncorrected.” Cuomo says the 10th Amendment to the Consitution makes it clear that the states retain all authority not spelled out by the constitution for the federal government. Cuomo said “this is not something you can argue.”
President Trump reacted angrily Monday and in a series of Tweets Tuesday morning after a number of the nation’s governors challenged his statement that he has the authority to decide when the national economy will reopen from the coronavirus shutdown. New York and its six neighboring states have banded together to develop a regional approach to reopening the economy, as have California, Oregon and Washington State on the West Coast.
Trump spoke of mutiny in his Tweets, but Cuomo said
“He has no fight here; I won’t let it happen.”
The governor also said New York’s Coronavirus infection rate continues to trend flat, but there were still 1,600 new cases overnight. He says three day averages on hospitalizations, ICU admissions and intubations are all down, but deaths remain above 700 a day across the state. Nearly 780 people died Monday night to Tuesday morning.
There have been 10,834 deaths so far.
Cuomo said the good news is that what people have been doing with social distancing and locking down at home has controlled the spread of the virus. The question now is, when can we start to east back on the emergency measures