By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Friday at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the two leaders traded barbs over funding for the gradual reopening from the novel coronavirus.
"Governor Cuomo should spend more time 'doing' and less time 'complaining'. Get out there and get the job done. Stop talking!" Trump fumed on Twitter.
Trump on Thursday unveiled his administration's guidelines for states to begin their gradual processes of emerging from the lockdowns that governors have imposed, leaving individual decisions on when to progress on the three-phase plan to state leaders.
Cuomo earlier accused Trump of "passing the buck without passing the bucks," or effectively mandating responsibilities for states to undertake as they gradually reopen their economies without providing them the necessary resources, particularly for costs and other resources associated with widespread testing.
"Don't ask the states, don't give them this massive undertaking that has never been done before, and then not give them any resources to do it. That's not how that is going to work," Cuomo told reporters. "The federal government cannot wipe their hands of this and say the states are responsible for testing. We cannot do it. We cannot do it without federal help."
That appears to have been the trigger for Trump, who raged on Twitter while Cuomo's press conference was still underway.
"We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!" he said in a follow-up tweet.
Asked by a reporter about the president's social media posts, Cuomo responded, "if he's sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work.”
"Let's keep emotion and politics out of this, and personal ego if we can, because this is about the people," he said, pointing to a $500 billion plan proposed by the National Governors Association to provide funding to states.
The U.S. remains the country hardest-hit by the global pandemic, with over 672,000 cases and nearly 34,000 deaths, according to data being compiled by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.