GOP-backed bill would suspend congestion pricing amid strike
19th District New York State Assemblyman Ed Ra at a news conference outside the Long Beach LIRR station on Sunday. Credit: Newsday/Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Blakeman said he supports a bill that Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra (R-Garden City) that would suspend the $9 congestion pricing toll for motorists driving to Manhattan for the duration of the strike.
Ra, who also attended Sunday's news conference alongside Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, said the pause in congestion pricing will help ease the burden of Long Island residents who have to drive to Manhattan during the work stoppage.
"We have our commuter rail that services 300,000 commuters in the first strike situation in over 30 years. Cars are falling into sinkholes on the Long Island Expressway, yet there is no accountability that this governor will ever take," Ra said.
At a separate news conference on Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said there's no legal mechanism to implement such a change on the state level.
"Anyone who tells you they can doesn't understand federal law," Hochul said.
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