Amid Fatal Nursing Home Fiasco, Cuomo to Meet Trump at the White House
by Katie PavlichNew York Governor Andrew Cuomo is in Washington D.C. Wednesday for a meeting with President Trump at the White House. They are expected to discuss infrastructure and New York's ongoing efforts to reopen as the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic begins to slow.
The meeting comes as the fallout and scandal over Cuomo's executive order on nursing homes, which led to a fatal spread of Wuhan coronavirus inside dozens of facilities, continues.
Further, Cuomo has been demanding the federal government offer New York a bailout as a result of being ground zero of the current pandemic. President Trump has repeatedly warned it would be unfair to taxpayers and responsible states to bailout local governments in poor financial shape before stay-at-home orders and shutdowns went into effect.
"I think there's a big difference with a state that lost money because of Covid and a state that's been run very badly for 25 years. There's a big difference in my opinion and you know we'd have to talk about things like payroll tax cuts, like sanctuary cities for example. I think sanctuary cities are something that need to be brought up where people that are criminals are protected, they're protected from prosecution. I think that has to be done. I think that's one of the problems that the states have," Trump said during a press briefing at the end of April. "We're certainly open to talking but it would really have to be Covid related not related for mismanagement over a long period of time."
"It's a very simple distinction to make," he continued. "We're not looking to do a bailout for a state. It's unfair to many of the states, most of the states that have done such a good job."
A study recently reported by the New York Times found the majority initial spread of the virus to the rest of America came from New York. Early on, President Trump suggested a quarantine of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Cuomo went ballistic and called it a "federal declaration of war."