© 2024 WSHU
NPR News & Classical Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
We received reports that some iPhone users with the latest version of iOS (v17.4) cannot play audio via the Grove Persistent Player.
While we work to fix the issue, we recommend downloading the WSHU app.

Cuomo Blames Democrats In State Senate For Uncertainty Over Amazon Project

Karen Matthews
/
AP
State Assemblyman Ron Kim, center, speaks at a rally opposing New York's deal with Amazon on the steps of New York's City Hall in December.

A report in the Washington Post says Amazon is considering pulling out of a deal to build its New York City headquarters, due to opposition from state and city elected officials who represent the Queens district where the company wants to build.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, in a speech to a business group on Long Island, said his Democratic colleagues in the state Senate are to blame.

“For the State Senate to oppose Amazon was governmental malpractice,” Cuomo said. “If they stop Amazon from coming to New York, they’re going to have the people of New York to explain it to.”

The deputy majority leader of the Senate, Michael Gianaris, who represents the Queens district, is against the deal, saying the multibillion-dollar company does not need state subsidies, and that local residents weren’t consulted. Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins earlier in the week appointed Gianaris to a key board that has oversight over approving parts of the Amazon project.

Cuomo admits that the community surrounding the site is “nervous,” but he says the 25,000 jobs that Amazon has promised to create are worth any inconvenience. And he says senators who are opposed to the project are engaged in “political pandering.”  

A spokesman for Senate Leader Stewart-Cousins called Cuomo’s pronouncements “fake news.” Spokesman Mike Murphy said “unfortunate that the Governor is trying to divide the Democratic Party at this crucial and historic time” after the Senate in the past few weeks approved reproductive health rights, gun control measures, protections for transgender New Yorkers, and extended the ability of childhood sexual abuse survivors to seek redress in court.

Karen has covered state government and politics for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 New York and Connecticut stations, since 1990. She is also a regular contributor to the statewide public television program about New York State government, New York Now. She appears on the reporter’s roundtable segment, and interviews newsmakers.