Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) praised President Biden for his investments into infrastructure.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I have a question for Major Leader Schumer, if he's still in earshot.
00:07What if we got up to 75-80%?
00:08Could we get a really big bag of cherries?
00:12I think that'd be fabulous, but no, I'm grateful to him.
00:15I want to say this.
00:17There are so many extraordinary public servants at every level who made this happen.
00:25And to recognize that it starts at the very top.
00:30If you don't have a President of the United States of America who's committed to this,
00:36it doesn't happen.
00:38So yes, we will give praise to President Biden.
00:43I think we give him a huge round of applause for not just loving Amtrak, loving trains,
00:48but being truly the embodiment of what an infrastructure president actually is and does.
00:56Let's give President Biden a round of applause.
01:02And this is about partnership.
01:06Don't take for granted that it's easy between two states, for example.
01:12We love New Jersey.
01:13New Jersey loves New York, but sometimes it's like brothers and sisters.
01:17We come from a big family.
01:19You know what I'm talking about.
01:21So to pull it together, to say that yes, there have been four presidents and five governors
01:27between our two states who just said it's too hard, we can't get it done and moved on
01:33to the next crisis, let's give credit to the people behind our governors, those who make
01:39the magic happen.
01:40And Phil Murphy, thank you.
01:42From our very first days in office, and I've been here just going on three years now, we
01:46said we have the power between us to work with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has
01:52dreamed of this day and made it happen, and people like Jerry Nadler and our congressional
01:57delegation.
01:58But if the governors were not on board, my friends, we'd all be doing something different
02:03right now.
02:04So Phil Murphy, thank you for the spirit of friendship that says we can sit around a table,
02:10we can collaborate, we can make the magic happen.
02:15So thank you, and thank you to Chris Collori, this bi-state guy that we both love.
02:20You've done an amazing job.
02:21Tony Kosher with Amtrak, we need your leadership as well.
02:25And also, to those in the Biden administration, yes, it's our president, yes, it's our vice
02:31president and Secretary Buttigieg, who came here many, many times, and yes, he must be
02:36on the phone with people from New York all day long because he's always talking to me
02:39as well and the senator and everybody.
02:41We appreciate that level of engagement.
02:44But also, to have someone like Polly Trottenberg right there as a leader.
02:49I want to thank you, Polly, because your voice on behalf of this region, yes, the whole country,
02:54but you have made a profound difference as well, and I want to thank you for that.
02:58Veronica Vanderpool, again, New York is really in the house, isn't it?
03:03I'm really grateful that all of you know what we're talking about.
03:07You know what we're talking about.
03:08You know how critical this is, and so you and your teams have made this happen.
03:12My team is extraordinary.
03:15My team, Catherine Garcia, who would be here, except she's across the Great Pond watching
03:20her daughter get married.
03:21We let her take a pass for that, but what she did, and her team, and Commissioner Dominguez,
03:27Marie-Therese Dominguez, our commissioner of DOT, thank you.
03:31Thank you to everyone, and Kevin O'Toole and Rick Cotton.
03:35You guys do extraordinary work.
03:37You're the unsung heroes who keep things moving in this region, and I'll never take that for
03:42granted, so thank you.
03:43Senator Booker, have a nice trip.
03:48Had to get on the road.
03:48I guess the senators are a little bit busy today, but also to so many others.
03:52Locally, Mark Levine is here.
03:54We have representation, the deputy mayor from the city of New York as well.
03:58Let me just say this.
04:02Today is a historic day.
04:04There's no doubt about it.
04:06We have moved into places that others thought was impossible.
04:11We have seen this through, and what this says is that New York and
04:17New Jersey, this region, still has the boldness,
04:21the audacity of visions where others do not.
04:26This is on the scale of the Erie Canal.
04:30How many years, my friends?
04:32200 years ago next year.
04:35You need to get up and celebrate this.
04:36It is still an engineering feat that is revered around the world.
04:41That's the scale of what we're doing here.
04:45Tunnels that were built in 1910, that were ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.
04:51And people said, well, stuff happens, right?
04:55No, you find the investment, you find the partners, and you make $16 billion of investment happen.
05:02And yes, I'll say it again, because you heard it before.
05:0595,000 good paying jobs for this region is phenomenal.
05:11To the men and women of labor, let's give them a huge round of applause because
05:14they're the ones building back our region, one tunnel at a time.
05:18$20 billion of economic impact.
05:25What does that look like?
05:27Our local businesses are so excited about families having more money in their pockets
05:32when times are tough, that they're going to spend on entertainment and
05:37restaurants and their kids' education.
05:39That's what economic development and money's all about.
05:43So I just want to say this, we have shown what we're capable here.
05:49We also have a president who invests in us.
05:52You heard it before, but this is the largest federal infrastructure investment,
05:58not just today, but in American history.
06:03And I'm going to put a little side note on that.
06:06New York is simultaneously benefiting from the largest private sector investment in American history.
06:13With Micron, $100 billion of investment going on just up the road.
06:18Again, thank you to the Biden administration.
06:22Thank you to Majority Leader Schumer and his partners, Jill LeBrand and others who've gotten this over the finish line.
06:27So sit back everybody, enjoy the magic of this moment because it may not happen again in your lifetime.
06:36This confluence, a president who gets it, who knows how to get things done and will continue to get things done.
06:43And also partners in the leadership that we have, with the leadership at the highest levels in the Senate.
06:50And two governors who know what friendship and camaraderie and the spirit of cooperation can do for a region.
06:58So, go forth, celebrate, honor this day, and know that you are all witnesses to history that generations will look back to with a sense of gratitude and says yes.
07:10They continue that legacy of bold, audacious people from this region who would never take no for an answer.
07:17Thank you very much everyone.