WASHINGTON – With the latest Covid-19 wave finally waning in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul met with President Biden and other administration officials Monday, not just to get more pandemic-related help for the state, but to also push issues that will help the state move past these troubled times.
In the nation's capitol for the National Governors Association's winter meeting – her first since the August resignation of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo – Hochul learned that the federal government will send more help to state hospitals in February. But she also spent time pressing for passage of a technology-related bill that the House is scheduled to consider this week and discussed other issues important to the state's future.
The governor proposed a total spending plan of $216.3 billion, up from the $208.9 billion budget enacted last April, and it includes enormous increases in education and health care.
After meeting with Jeffrey Zients, who is leading the White House pandemic effort, Hochul announced that the federal government will be sending more resources to upstate hospitals starting Feb. 7 to help them cope with the stresses they've felt amid the Omicron wave.Â
People are also reading…
U.S. Department of Defense Military Medical Team deployment at Erie County Medical Center will be extended for 30 days, through March 10, she announced. Other military medical teams will be sent to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester and SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse.
"I thank them for the additional support they've been sending us to supplement our healthcare staffing, which has been really critical, particularly in areas like ECMC, like SUNY Upstate," Hochul said in an interview after her White House meetings.
This week, in unveiling her first state budget plan, the Democratic governor put taxpayer dollars behind the partnership rhetoric, proposing to spend huge new amounts of money on all levels of local governments, from schools to counties, cities, towns and villages.
Hochul said she also inquired about the availability of the new Pfizer pill for Covid-19, and was told that it should be widely available by April.
"We need to come out of this pandemic strong," she said. "We continue to need some help, but we're going to see the end on the horizon, or at least the end of this particular phase."
One thing that would help, she said, is passage of the America COMPETES Act, which the House will consider this week. The bill is the House version of legislation the Senate passed last year that creates "tech hubs" across the country while aiming to address the microchip shortage that's plagued many industries.
"I advocated for the passage of a final economic competitiveness package to strengthen the semiconductor industry, address supply chain issues and create jobs in New York and across the country in this vital field," she said.
The governor also discussed the state's clean energy initiatives with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and agricultural issues with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Hochul received 330 separate donations totaling $20,000 or more each. They gave her $12.9 million of the $22,627,617 she reported in total receipts since shortly before becoming governor following Cuomo's resignation in August.
Hochul's meetings with her colleagues also touched on a less crucial but emotionally devastating topic: the Buffalo Bills' loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL playoffs earlier this month.
"Literally, every governor expressed admiration for the Buffalo Bills," Hochul, a Buffalo native, said. "Every governor, except for those from Missouri and Kansas, was rooting for Buffalo last weekend."
