CNN Newsroom: Interview With Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY)
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Thank you very much.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Well, President Biden absolutely laid the foundation for a reelection run.
He will make that decision his own timeline. But he has tremendous support among the Democratic governors and I believe the people we represent. What he talked about at the State of the Union and reinforced to us as state leaders is that we have to keep focusing on ways we can create more jobs, whether it's infrastructure, whether it's the green economy, semiconductors, all the legislation that he has successfully shepherded through this Congress that is now available for us to take to the states and get in the hands of our constituents.
So, he has a great message. We support him. And also the way he is standing up to protect Social Security and Medicare, he laid down the gauntlet, and no one better get in his way to make sure that we protect the rights that our seniors deserve to have in their elder years. They have earned this. They have worked hard their whole lives.
And make -- President Biden is going to make sure no one forgets that.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Listen, they have raised it.
This is something that they raise at their own peril. Literally, over a decade ago, I was elected as a Democratic member of Congress in the most Republican district in New York because Republicans even then, Paul Ryan, were talking about changing Medicare and making it harder for our seniors.
So there are consequences. Republicans will lose elections if they continue to tamper with something that has been a right of our seniors for decades and decades. So, the president is correct. And he also talked to us about the debt ceiling, that you should not tamper with our faith and good credit because it has way beyond -- consequences beyond our boundaries. It has a global effect.
So, Republicans should stop playing games, work with the president, continue delivering money and projects that will create good-paying jobs in this country, bring the jobs back home, to create the supply chain here. So there's so much we can do together. So they should stop playing games, stop scaring our seniors, is what they're doing, and work with the president to get the job done.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
We need assistance at the border, to have processing at the borders, so people can go with already the asylum status applied for. And that is part of the plan he has put forward that people would start applying in their home countries, which will help future migrants.
But those who are already in our country, we have to get more federal assistance for their housing, for their education, for their health care. As far as the state of New York, we have actually put forth a billion dollars in my budget to continue what we have been doing, but also ramp up for more people.
But the greatest solution, in our opinion, is to allow these individuals to get work permits earlier. We have a 3 percent unemployment rate in the state of New York. All over the country, employers are desperately looking for workers. And all the jobs that President Biden and the Democrats are creating, whether it's in hospitality, health care, agriculture, working in restaurants, there is so much demand.
So we just had some very productive conversations with the top administrative aides about how we can possibly get that change done.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
We're talking about it. And...
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
We're talking about it and working hard with them.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
I want him gone.
I did not invite him to my bipartisan meeting because I didn't think it'd be productive. And, also, he's not on any committees. We're talking about what members can do on their committees. So, he's a huge distraction for our state. And that's not just from Democrats. That's from Republicans who -- in our meetings with the governors and also what I did with my own delegation who want us to roll up our sleeves, work across the aisle and start producing results.
And someone like George Santos is not someone who can do that work right now. And, therefore, he should just move on.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
All right. Thank you.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source