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Cuomo and Trump Have 'Not Adversarial' Talk on Health Care, Infrastructure

By Jeff Mays | January 18, 2017 2:04pm
 Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday and said he discussed
Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday and said he discussed "opportunities" and "needs" for the state as well possible infrastructure projects.
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DNAinfo/Jeff Mays

TRUMP TOWER — Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday to discuss "opportunities" and "needs" for New York State as well as possible infrastructure projects.

The meeting was very different than one Mayor Bill de Blasio had with Trump in November where he said he told the president-elect that New Yorkers were "fearful" of his proposed policies.

"The president-elect is about to embark on policy setting," Cuomo said in the lobby of Trump Tower after the meeting. "And I wanted to make sure that he does not pass up New York in those conversations."

Cuomo, while promising to fight proposed Trump policies such as the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, cuts to women's health care and deporting undocumented immigrants, has taken a much less combative approach to dealing with the president-elect than de Blasio.

►READ MORE: New Yorkers Are Scared of You, De Blasio Tells Trump

The mayor is scheduled to take part in a protest of Trump Thursday night along with celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Rosie Perez and Alec Baldwin.

Several New York City congressional representatives also plan to boycott Trump's inauguration.

During his State of the State address last week, Cuomo was clearly criticizing some Trump policies such as the proposed deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, but never mentioned the president-elect by name.

Cuomo, who is considered a possible presidential candidate n 2020, said his meeting with Trump was "not adversarial." Asked if it was just two guys from Queens "chewing the fat," the governor said the conversation also wasn't that chummy.

►R EAD MORE: Trump Inauguration Boycott Includes These New York Congressional Democrats

"Maybe two people with Queens accents, but we never chewed the fat," Cuomo said.

Cuomo said he spoke to Trump about how the loss of the Affordable Care Act would be devastating to New Yorkers

"Some of the changes to the Affordable Care Act can have traumatic results on New York and if the federal government does make changes to Obamacare, it's very important to protect the accomplishments that Obamacare also brought to us," said Cuomo.

The state estimates that 3 million New Yorkers could lose coverage if the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

"We discussed how the Affordable Care Act affects New York and the pitfalls of a repeal plan which would be dramatic," said Cuomo.

The governor says he also spoke to Trump about housing.

"We have record homelessness in New York City. I was a former HUD secretary. HUD can be a great, great ally to the city and state in actually combating homelessness and getting production up again," said Cuomo.

On infrastructure, Cuomo says he told Trump that the state would welcome federal money for projects such as rebuilding La Guardia and JFK airports and improving the subway system.

"We are ready to go in New York, we are ready to build. If he wants to put federal money to use and put federal money to use quickly, this is the state to do it," said Cuomo.

The main thrust of the conversation was "both the opportunities for the State of New York and the needs of the State of New York," said Cuomo.

►READ MORE: How a Trump Presidency Will Affect New York City

The governor added that he thought Trump acknowledged his concerns, especially on health care.

"He is a New Yorker and my sense was he understood exactly what I was saying and the magnitude of what I was saying," said Cuomo.

Cuomo gave support for civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis of Georgia who has called Trump an illegitimate president because of Russian interference in the election, but did not answer when asked if he thought the election was legitimate.

Asked if he was attending the inauguration, Cuomo said "No."