Cuomo hails likely Democratic control of U.S. Senate following Georgia vote, denounces violence at U.S. Capitol

(The Center Square) – New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was in a good mood as he briefed reporters Wednesday morning. With Democrats on the verge of taking the U.S. Senate and giving the party control in Washington, he rattled off a list of redresses he wants to see.

He said the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans have used the state as “political piñata” to appease conservative factions.

“Today Washington theft ends, and compensation for the victims of the crimes of the past four years begins,” he said. “And New Yorkers have been crime victims as far as I’m concerned by the theft of the federal government.”

Those comments came hours before rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress tried to certify Biden’s election, an event that Cuomo denounced in a statement Wednesday evening.

“We must call this what it actually is: a failed attempt at a coup,” Cuomo said. “This is the final chapter of an incompetent, cruel, and divisive administration that has trampled on the Constitution and the rule of law at every turn, and we won’t let President [Donald] Trump, the members of Congress who enable him, or the lawless mob that stormed our nation’s Capitol steal our democracy.”

The remarks also came hours before Jon Ossoff was officially declared the winner of in runoff election for a six-year U.S. Senate seat in Georgia.

Top among Cuomo’s list of grievances is $15 billion in federal aid to make, what he has claimed for 10 months, the state whole from the COVID-19 pandemic. As previous efforts to get that aid from Congress failed, Cuomo was resigned to look for other ways to fill that deficit.

Cuomo had been working on his upcoming State of the State address. However, with Ossoff now giving Democrats 50 members in the Senate and a pending majority once Kamala Harris becomes the vice president and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla fills her seat, he said he’ll have to rewrite much of it now.

“It’s going to be a totally different state of the state,” he said.

The Democratic Senate now will likely be led by New York’s U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the current minority leader in the body. Cuomo said that will be “a very good development” for the state.

Among some of the other issues Cuomo wants to see addressed is reinstating the state and local tax deduction for federal taxes, which he said has had a $4 billion annual impact on New York taxpayers.

“They did the greatest income redistribution in history,” Cuomo said of Republicans. “They took from the rich states and they gave to the poor states.”

He also said necessary infrastructure initiatives have also been neglected. In New York City, that includes the Second Avenue Subway and Gateway Tunnels. Upstate, projects like the Interstate 81 rebuild in Syracuse and the Buffalo Skyway have not received federal support.

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