Governor Hochul is a Guest on “PBS Newshour”

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on PBS NewsHour with Amna Nawaz to discuss how governors across the nation are responding to threats from the federal administration including DOGE, tariffs, and entitlement cuts.

VIDEO: The interview is available to stream on YouTube here.

AUDIO: The Governor's interview is available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Amna Nawaz, PBS News:  As President Donald Trump's cost cutting agenda continues through the government, Democratic governors are now looking to recruit fired federal workers to their states. The State of New York has launched a campaign for those impacted by DOGE cuts, including billboards in New York City's Moynihan Train Hall and in train and metro stations throughout Washington, D.C.

Joining me now to discuss that effort and the other ways that New York is pushing back against the Trump administration is New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Governor, welcome back to the NewsHour. Thank you for joining us.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.

Amna Nawaz, PBS News: Let's start with that effort then to recruit some of those fired federal workers. Have you had fired federal workers applying for those jobs? How many have you been able to hire so far?

Governor Hochul: No, we certainly have. In fact, a couple weeks ago, I did a roundtable inviting a number of recently fired federal employees from the New York City area to come and one of them was a father of four. He'd done four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He worked at the VA. He was one week from ending his probation and he was dismissed and he was so upset and distraught about it.

And I gathered others who were just really still reeling from the unexpectedness of it. They never thought this would happen to them. So, I told them we would take care of these individuals. I literally have almost 7,000 open jobs in state government. We are not back to our pre-pandemic levels, and we certainly have openings in law enforcement and education and social work, a lot of issues – we want to take care of our citizens.

So, I think it's a great opportunity. I was literally meeting with President Trump in the White House last week. I went to Union Station afterward and I saw our billboard that said, “DOGE may say ‘You're fired,’ but in New York, we say, ‘You're hired.’” And it's been really successful. And I will give you the real numbers once we know for sure. But a lot more have applied than we expected. And I find that exciting.

Amna Nawaz, PBS News: So tell me a little bit more about that meeting with President Trump last week, because you and the President have disagreed and clashed before, right? You've accused him of federal overreach. You've disagreed on his immigration approach, but you said it's important to keep that dialogue open. So where can you work with this president? What did you agree on in that meeting?

Governor Hochul: One area where we should all be able to agree on is infrastructure. Continuing important investments. Many started under the Biden Administration. But I want to make sure that we look at an asset like Penn Station in New York City, which is really the welcome mat for millions of people who come through that station, and it looks deplorable. We've been renovating certain parts of it, but I want to make it to be a beautiful train hall. Something that natural light comes in and that people will come through there and feel that this is a really world class experience. So, knowing that Donald Trump is a New Yorker, I appealed to his sense of understanding how important this asset is to our city and its identity. And we agreed to work on this together.

Amna Nawaz, PBS News: What about on tariffs? Because we've seen publicly he has doubled down on the use of tariffs, particularly in Canada – which I know impacts your state quite a bit. You said you’ve told him that the tariffs are devastating for upstate farm and factory workers. Was he receptive to that?

Governor Hochul: You know, he does believe that it's short term pain for long term gain. Just that the people who are expecting prices to go down on Inauguration Day, are really in for a rude awakening. Not only did they not go down as promised, but they're going up. And if you look at the possible impacts of $2,000 to $3,000 more a year for a family. I mean, especially in places like upstate New York, on the border with Quebec, and western New York – where I'm from – on the border of Ontario, this is not a foreign country to us. This is a natural trading partner. It's part of a larger, broader community. So this really sent shockwaves through our state. And I wanted him to know that a lot of these people supported him. Many areas of Upstate New York did support him in the election, and now they're just wondering what happened.

Amna Nawaz, PBS News: Governor, on the immigration front, we know New York City has been in this administration's crosshairs for a while. You've said you are not going to allow ICE to come in and take people off the streets, but the reports show that they've sort of already been doing that to some extent. We saw local New York reports show that during one week in February, there were 100 people arrested. Do you know how many people ICE has arrested and potentially deported from New York?

Governor Hochul: Well, I had a conversation with the President about this a couple of times, and I said, “I am aligned with your interest in removing dangerous criminals off the streets and sending them back to where they came from.” It's in my interest. My number one priority is public safety, and that particularly includes Venezuelan gang members who have been terrorizing parts of our city since their arrival. So this is not a bad outcome to have them removed. But we understand there's a difference, and I explained this once again, saying, “We're not separating families. We're not going to allow that to happen.”

Amna Nawaz, PBS News: But Governor, we know among the thousands of people already deported have been people who have no criminal record. Do you know how many of those people have been from New York?

Governor Hochul: No, I don't know how many, but I will say that we don't cooperate in those cases. That's why I don't have information. We will cooperate — my State Police will cooperate — in a situation where you have a warrant, or it's someone on a terrorism watch list; someone who's committed crimes in their own country or here. That's a different category from where we will not cooperate when it comes to just saying, – identifying who these people are and we're going to take them. We're not going to help with that.

Amna Nawaz, PBS News: I need to ask you, too, about the Democratic Party, because it's been a rough few weeks. You've seen the leader of your party in the Senate under fire from fellow Democrats, including your fellow New Yorkers, Hakeem Jeffries and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for choosing to avoid a government shutdown and back a Republican funding bill. In your view, was that the right choice?

Governor Hochul: I know that Senator Schumer has New York State's best interest at heart, because he's also not just a majority leader for the Senate, but also our state. He has delivered time and time again for New Yorkers. There can be disputes within our party. This is not unusual in a family to have disagreements on a strategy. But also at the end of the day – he and Hakeem Jeffries put out a statement together, working together to fight the Medicaid cuts. We cannot afford these cuts. So, already there's a unity that's restored.

And again, going down the road, there will be more disagreements. That's okay. But the bottom line is, who brought us to this place? Never forget it was the Republicans. And every day that we're hitting each other, is another day that Republicans are getting away with what they're doing. I'm going to continue to remind everybody, let's stand together as often as we can, as loudly as we can, against what the Republicans are trying to do to undermine – not just our democracy, but our basic sense of security here. The chaos of the stock market, what you're doing with tariffs, what you're doing to make lives more expensive here — we have to stand up and call that out.

Amna Nawaz, PBS News: Governor, there was clearly a divide within your party though on this one issue. Was it the right choice for Senator Schumer to vote for that bill?

Governor Hochul: Listen, I'm focused on New York State here. I spent time in Congress, I would answer questions on federal issues when it came to that. He made a decision that he thought was best not to have the shutdown. Others disagree with that. I'm focused on making sure that New York can get through this tumultuous time, whatever happens, and agree that a shutdown would have been difficult for our state.

Amna Nawaz, PBS News: That is New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, joining us tonight. Governor Hochul, good to see you again. Thank you again for making the time.

Governor Hochul: Thank you.