Gov. Cuomo claims Trump wants to roll back Roe v. Wade after meeting on late-term abortion
New York’s Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo claims President Trump wants to roll back the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision after a closed door meeting at the White House Tuesday evening in which the two discussed taxes and Cuomo’s support of late-term abortion.
“The president raised his concerns to Governor Cuomo about Democrats’ support of late term abortions,” Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said in a statement cited by the Daily Caller after the meeting.
Deere further noted that Trump and Cuomo also discussed “the positive impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on the American economy, and the president listened to the governor’s concerns regarding SALT. The president reiterated the negative impact that high taxes in states like New York have on hardworking families and job creators.”
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Responding to a question about Deere’s statement on the meeting, Cuomo said in an interview with WCBS 880 that following their meeting the administration feels "constrained to reiterate their divisions with the Democrats."
"And he's right." Cuomo said. "He wants to roll back Roe v. Wade which is a Supreme Court case that guarantees a woman's right to choose. Take us back to a time when women couldn't get an abortion legally."
Abortion rights advocates have been bracing for a potential rollback of the Roe v. Wade decision which some have said would trigger bans on abortion in as many as 22 states.
But Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric J. Scheidler has dismissed that claim as “fearmongering.”
"At most, only a couple of states with extremely conservative legislatures might even attempt something like a total ban on abortion," Scheidler said in a previous interview with The Christian Post.
"[It's] far more likely that states would seek to further restrict abortion, in line with the view of most Americans, with measures like banning late-term abortion and holding abortion facilities to the highest health and safety standards," he added.
In a controversial move that captured national headlines and the attention of the president, on Jan. 22 Cuomo signed the Reproductive Health Act, which in New York state allows abortion up to birth for any reason that threatens a woman’s mental or physical health. It also removed abortion from the state's criminal code.
In his State of the Union speech last Tuesday, Trump called out lawmakers in New York and Virginia, which tabled a proposal to New York’s RHA, for their support of late-term abortion and urged Congress to enact a law against the practice.
“There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother's womb moments before birth,” the president said.
“These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world," Trump continued. "And then, we had the case of the governor of Virginia where he stated he would execute a baby after birth. To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother's womb. Let us work together to build a culture that cherishes innocent life. And let us reaffirm a fundamental truth — all children — born and unborn— are made in the holy image of God.”
In discussing the $10,000 cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes included in Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Cuomo also argued that it created a tax increase for New Yorkers.
“It is a critical issue for New York state because it's essentially a tax increase on New Yorkers. And remember, New York already pays more to the federal government than any state in the United States of America. We subsidize almost every other state,” Cuomo claimed. But according to the website Money Rates, New York comes in at No. 4 among a list of states that pay the most federal taxes.
"Cuomo is blaming the state’s $2.3 billion budget shortfall on a political party that doesn’t run the place," The Wall Street Journal's editorial board wrote Monday. "He says the state is suffering from declining tax receipts because the GOP Congress as part of tax reform in 2017 limited the state-and-local tax deduction to $10,000."
“What it does is it has created two different tax structures in this country,” Mr. Cuomo lamented Monday. “And it has created a preferential tax structure in Republican states. It has redistributed wealth in this nation from Democratic states” to “red states.”
But, "in reality," WSJ adds, "the once unlimited deduction allowed those in high tax climes to mitigate the pain of state taxes. It amounted to a subsidy for progressive policies."
Last summer, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey, sued the federal government to void the $10,000 cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes.
“I told the president myself today: SALT repeal is hurting us. And if you hurt New York, you’re harming the economic engine of the nation,” Cuomo said in a tweet Tuesday evening.
WSJ's editorial board added: "Taxpayers can still write off $10,000, which means those with modest means are spared a tax increase. The Tax Foundation reported last month that repealing the cap would 'almost exclusively provide tax relief to the top 20 percent of income earners, the largest tax cut going to the top 1 percent of earners.' The government would lose $600 billion over 10 years.
"This must be the first time in years that a Democrat has said the government needs less money, or that the rich need a tax cut."
