Governor assures New Yorkers she won’t let Trump lower their fees

In a defiant statement on Wednesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul assured residents she will not allow President Donald Trump to cancel the $9 congestion fee she recently imposed on drivers.

Drivers who enter Midtown Manhattan south of 60th Street between 5 AM and 9 PM must pay $9. Entrance outside those hours triggers a fee of $3.75. Hochul launched the program in January after telling New Yorkers she saved them money by reducing the charge from the originally planned $15 fee.

The Trump administration has effectively canceled the program by withdrawing federal approval, which is required for state tolls on roads built with federal funds. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called the congestion fee a “backwards and unfair” program that threatens to reduce patronage for small businesses, increase the cost of goods for consumers, and penalize commuters who have already paid for the roads through various taxes.

"CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD,” Trump posted on Truth Social after withdrawing federal approval for the program. “Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!"

"Congestion pricing is not a good situation. They're treating the people of New York very badly," he said. "Supposing you worked at a shoe shop or you worked in a restaurant as a waiter, and you have to come into Manhattan and they're taking, you know, many, many dollars out of your pocket. You can't afford to do it."

Governor slams Trump’s ‘attack on our sovereign identity’

Governor Hochul seized on Trump’s “Long Live the King” comment to promise New Yorkers she will not let the president interfere with congestion pricing, framing it as a democracy issue.

"I'm here to say, New York hasn't labored under a king in over 250 years, and we are not, we sure as hell are not gonna start now,” Hochul said to applause at a press conference. “The streets of the city where battles were fought, we stood up to a king and we won then. In case you don't know New Yorkers, we're in a fight, we do not back down — not now, not ever.”

"I don't care if you love congestion pricing or hate it, this is an attack on our sovereign identity, our independence from Washington,” she added. “We are a nation of states. This is what we fought for. This is what people like Alexander Hamilton and others fought for, to set up a system where you're not subservient to a king or anyone else out of Washington.”

Hochul added that tolls will remain enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) surveillance cameras unless a court orders otherwise. The state has already filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision to end congestion pricing.

The congestion fee program has attracted many critics who say it is a “cash grab” for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy praised the Trump administration’s decision, saying the program “lines the MTA's pockets at the expense of New Jerseyans.” 

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