Gov. Cuomo and President Trump talk taxes, fracking and abortion

Feb. 13--Gov. Cuomo pounded salt Tuesday as he pressed a hesitant President Trump to eliminate a controversial cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes.

Cuomo came away from a wide-ranging afternoon White House meeting with no assurances, but got the impression that the commander-in-chief is at least open to reexamining the so-called SALT deductions.

"The President understands it," the governor told CBS 880 after the sitdown. "He did say he's open to discussing the SALT issue."

Cuomo last week blamed the tax caps, put in place by Trump and the GOP, for a $2.3 billion shortfall in the state's estimates for personal income tax revenue. The 2017 tax overhaul placed a $10,000 cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes.

"What their tax bill does, is it raises taxes on New Yorkers. And that's why I'm complaining," Cuomo told CBS.

The governor will continue to press Democrats in Congress on the issue and said White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow indicated some reforms to the tax law could be forthcoming.

Trump "listened to the governor's concerns," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement following the meeting.

He also had a few suggestions for his home state.

The President pushed Cuomo to rethink New York's ban on fracking and raised his concerns "about Democrats' support of late-term abortions," Deere said.

Trump hammered New York lawmakers in his State of the Union speech for passing legislation that expands women's access to abortions. The bill allows women to get abortions after 24 weeks if their life or health is threatened by the pregnancy, or if the fetus is not viable.

The pair of Queens natives also discussed infrastructure, specifically the Gateway Tunnel project between New York and New Jersey.

The much-needed repair project was initially slated to receive $11 billion in federal funding before Trump reneged last year.

But the President refused to budge on the issue during his talk Tuesday with Cuomo.

"There are some things that are just, I know we live in political times, but this is a train tunnel and it's 100 years old and its collapsing," the governor said. "Can't we get past the politics?"

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