19 April 2020, New York, USA
Reporter:
I also wanted to get your response. It looks like the president is also watching this press conference. He tweeted 13 minutes ago, quote: “Governor Cuomo should spend more time doing and less time complaining. Get out there and get the job done. Stop talking. We built you thousands of hospital beds that you didn’t need or use, gave large numbers of ventilators that you should have had and helped you with testing that you should be doing.” It goes on a little bit more. Wondering if you could respond to that and then also the question about the overwhelmed ICU?
Gov. Andrew Cuomo:
Good. Good. Let’s respond to the president.
First of all, if he’s sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work, right? Second, let’s keep a motion and politics out of this and personal ego, if we can, because this is about the people and it’s about our job. Let’s try to focus on that.
I have said repeatedly that when we were fighting for the additional capacity for a hospital system that the president moved very quickly. I applauded him for it. He brought the Army Corps of Engineers. He brought them up to build the Javits Center capacity, 2,500 beds. He’s wrong that it hasn’t been used, about 800 people have gone through Javits. To dismiss 800 people is disrespectful. But we didn’t use 2,500 beds because we didn’t reach the capacity. When he says, “Well, we built it, we didn’t need it.” It sounds like a suggestion is, well, it was a request by the state that wasn’t valid. If he didn’t really believe 2,500 beds was necessary, I don’t believe the federal government would’ve helped build 2,500 beds. The number came from a projection from him. Him. See, he should read the reports he issues.
The White House Coronavirus Task force had enormous, projected in the millions of people. The CDC, which is the president, projected in the millions of people. The projections were high. They were the president’s projections. For him to say to anyone, “Well you relied on projections and the projections were wrong,” they’re your projections, Mr. President. Were we foolish for relying on your projections, Mr. President? CDC, Coronavirus White House Task Force, that’s you. White House. That’s you. We relied on your projections. Okay, shouldn’t have relied on your projections. Actually, I think the President has a better argument, which is, yes, we built 2,500 beds because the projections said it could get that bad and because we work together, we flattened the curve and we didn’t hit the projection, which is actually what happened. But don’t suggest that anyone made a mistake relying on your projections or on Cornell, Columbia, McKinsey, et cetera.
Second, I have said a number of times, I don’t know what am I supposed to do? Send a bouquet of flowers. They were very helpful on Javits. They were very helpful on sending the US Navy Ship Comfort. They were very helpful in intervening with China and getting PPE equipment out of China. They were very helpful in helping us find ventilators. I said, “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Now, going forward, we’re still in the midst of it. The president doesn’t want to help on testing. I said the one issue we need help with it is testing. He said 11 times, “I don’t want to get involved in testing. It’s too complicated. It’s too hard.” I know it’s too complicated and it’s too hard. That’s why we need you to help. I can’t do an international supply chain. He wants to say, “Well, I did enough.” Yeah, none of us have done enough. We haven’t, because it’s not over.
Yes, thank you for the Javits. Thank you for the US Navy Ship Comfort. But it’s not over. We have a lot more to do. No one can take the posture, “Well, just say thank you for what I’ve done and I’m now out. I’m not doing anything else. I’ve done my part.”
What if I said to the people of my state, “Okay, I’m done. By the way, I saved hundreds of thousands of lives. I flattened the curve. I created more hospital beds than anyone ever imagined. I coordinated the entire state. I’m done. I’m done. I’m going home. I’m going to go see my mother. I’m going to go spend time with my kids. I’m going to go out fishing in Connecticut because their marinas are open. That’s it. I’m done.” What if I said that? That’s what he’s saying. “I’m done. I don’t want to help on testing. Testing is too hard.”
Then the only thing he’s doing, let’s be honest, “Well, it’s up to the states to do reopen. By the way, it was always up to the states. What are you going to grant me what the Constitution gave me before you were born? It’s called the 10th Amendment. I didn’t need the President of the United States to tell me that I’m governor. I didn’t need the President of the United States to tell me the powers of a state. People did that-
The powers of a state. People did that. Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison. They are the ones who gave me the power and I don’t need the President of the United States to read the constitution for me. Maybe he should have read the constitution before he said he had the power to open the states. Where he did a very graceful 180 and many people allowed him to do the graceful 180. But so he now says it’s up to the governors which he said repeatedly now, yesterday, version of yesterday. And now it’s up to the governors to reopen. Okay, I’m going to reopen. I get it. And you don’t want to help on testing, which is a national problem and replicates the same chaos that you created with medical supplies because FEMA wasn’t ready. By the way, I needed a stockpile. Where was your stockpile? 10,000 ventilators for the nation?
That was your stockpile? Were your projections, the federal projections, said they would need double the hospital capacity of this nation. Think about that. The CDC says double the hospital capacity of the nation. The minimum projection was 2.4 million hospital beds. You know how many hospital beds we have in this nation? 900,000. His projection says 2.4 million hospital beds. The whole hospital system is only 900 and his stockpile has 10,000 ventilators. You were ready with your stockpile, didn’t you read your own CDC projection? Didn’t you read your own Coronavirus protection?
So, thank you again Mr. President for the Javits. Thank you for the US Navy ship Comfort, which by the way, it’s just doing your job as president. It’s not really thank you like you wrote a check yourself, but thank you for that. We’re not out of the woods. We have to go forward. We need help on testing and we need funding. It’s up to the governors. It’s up to the states. Well then, provide the funding. No, they only want to pass a bill that funds their Small Business Fund called PPE. Their Small Business Program. We need to fund the Small Business Program. But, you’re going to say after just saying this monumental task is up to the individual governors and the individual states, I’m providing no help, no assistance, no financial money. I understand that small businesses need the funding. By the way, I know that airlines need a bailout, but not the states. Why don’t you show as much consideration to states as you did to your big businesses and to your airlines? Right?