The Democratic government in DC amid the coronavirus pandemic may expose the latent tensions between New York’s two political titans – Governor Andrew Cuomo and Senator Chuck Schumer, the new Democratic majority leader in the Senate, sources who know both have said. .
“Their relationship is one of work, at best,” said a leading New York Democrat.
“There was a huge tension between the two in the spring,” said a party source.
Cuomo publicly criticized Schumer last year for not supporting changes to restructure the Medicaid program on which he depended to generate savings in the state budget.
Cuomo last March also criticized Schumer’s $ 2.1 billion bipartisan deal on the relief of COVID-19 with the Trump administration as “terrible” for New York State.
“I tell Senator Schumer, it would be nice if he passed a law that really helped the state of New York,” Cuomo told reporters during the fight last spring.
Schumer at the time said that he delivered many.
A veteran lobbyist from Albany and DC described the Cuomo-Schumer relationship as a cold “coexistence”.
“It is not a warm and friendly relationship. You have two highly competitive personalities, larger than life. Cuomo comes from Queens. Schumer, from Brooklyn, ”said the lobbyist.
Schumer is now the majority leader in the Senate, with more power to hand over to New York.
But Cuomo continues to publicly maintain pressure on Schumer and President Biden to keep New York’s promises. He threatened to sue them if they did not provide $ 15 billion in federal aid to help balance the state budget.
In discussing his budget plan last week, sources said Cuomo continued to incite Schumer, the source said.
Cuomo praised Schumer as “not just a New York friend” but a “New Yorker” and hoped Washington would be “fair” to the Empire State with Democrats in charge.
But the governor said the actions were worth more than words and praised Schumer’s predecessor, former Republican senator Al D’Amato, for blocking an effort to eliminate the clause that allows New Yorkers to deduct their high state and local taxes. in his federal tax returns when Ronald Reagan was president.
The tax law passed by former President Trump and the Republican-led Congress in 2017 limited deductions to $ 10,000 while reducing federal income and corporate taxes.
Both Schumer and Cuomo opposed the SALT restriction, but the Senate majority leader is in place to try to undo it.
The Cuomo and Schumer fields sought to minimize any tensions.
“Each of us has a role to play and perform to deliver to the people of New York,” said Cuomo senior consultant Rich Azzopardi.
Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro said, “Senator Schumer and Governor Cuomo are working together to provide additional aid to New York.”
The Schumer camp noted that the senator had helped deliver $ 27.1 billion in humanitarian aid against the coronvirus to the state of New York since the start of the pandemic, which helped finance education, the MTA and other services.
Cuomo and Schumer have an incentive to work together to get things done. Both are on the ballot for reelection next year.
“Schumer and Cuomo will work much more collaboratively together. The dynamics have changed due to Schumer’s powerful position. . . Schumer will be able to do things he wasn’t able to do before when he was a minority, ”said D’Amato, defeated by Schumer in 1998.
Former Harlem congressman Charles Rangel, who has known Schumer and Cuomo for decades, said: “I don’t have the impression that they are friends.”
“But they are both responsible, quality employees and they love their state and city,” he said.
“If Cuomo and Schumer have a problem, I don’t try to see anything about it in public or read about it in the NY Post.”