Hochul tells Trump to cough up $15B to fix NYC subways if congestion pricing is cut

President Trump will have to come up with $15 billion in federal cash to fix New York City’s subway system if he wants to cut congestion pricing, Gov.Kathy Hochul insisted Thursday — as their ongoing spat over the controversial Manhattan toll only continues to escalate.The Democrat said she gave Trump the so-called ultimatum during their White House sit-down late last week, telling him he would need to dip into US coffers to offset the billions the state is estimated to lose if the congestion toll is nixed.“You’re gonna have to give me $15 billion to invest in a subway system, then,” Hochul told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” of her closed-door meeting with the president on Wednesday.“If I lose $15 billion that we’re able to leverage with the money brought in by congestion pricing, then I won’t be able to fix the stations and the repairs and the new buses I need.”Her apparent demand is just the latest development in the showdown between the feds and state over the scheme to charge drivers a $9 fee to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.The Trump administration has given the state a deadline of March 21 to “cease the collection of tolls” after US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced last week he was scrapping federal approval.

Hochul, for her part, has repeatedly vowed to resist the order.“We have to fight to keep it going, and that’s why I’m taking it to the courts and I’ll take it wherever I can,” Hochul said during Thursday’s MSNBC appearance — as she doubled down on remarks made a day earlier.“They’re telling us we have to have an orderly cessation by the end of March.

I’m saying we’re going to have to have an orderly resistance,” she added.“We are not turning off the cameras.”Hochul said she tried to lean on the fact that Trump and she are both native New Yorkers in a bid to sway the president, who has decried the toll as a “terrible tax on working class.”“I said, ‘Mr.

President, you’re a New Yo...