The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a meeting on Thursday with “Sanctuary State” governors, as House Republicans refer to them.
The three Democratic Governors (JB Pritzker of Illinois, Tim Walz of Minnesota, and Kathy Hochul of New York) have vowed to continue to fight against President Trump and his Department of Homeland Security’s tactics to sweep up undocumented migrants for deportation without due process.
Note: It’s up to Congress to evaluate federal funding related to immigration.
The Committee, led by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), has published excerpts from the meeting but without the responses of the governors.
For example, on the Committee’s official website, it quotes Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) asking Governor Hochul: “Governor Hochul, you spend about roughly $4 billion on illegal immigration and at the same time you are actually asking the federal government for $4 billion to finish Penn Station. Don’t you think it would be better to stop funding illegal immigrants in your state and actually use those resources to finish Penn Station as opposed to coming to the federal government for the money?”
Byron Donalds tough guy acting …just got owned
AGAIN
pic.twitter.com/9feDbyiH0Y — CathyNotToday2
(@Cathy2NotToday) June 12, 2025
As seen in the video above posted by CathyNotToday2, Hochul replied with what was for Donalds’ line of questioning an inconvenient fact: “Penn Station is owned by Amtrak, not by the state. So it’s an appropriate use of their dollars.”
More than one on X responded with praise for Hochul’s pregnant pause before she answered Donalds. One wrote: “The way she took her time to respond,” and another chimed in, “Hochul’s pause before answering was priceless.”
Amtrak is majority-owned by the federal government, which created it in 1971 and runs it as a for-profit enterprise. According to Wikipedia, “In fiscal year 2024, Amtrak served 32.4 million passengers and had $2.5 billion in revenue, with more than 22,100 employees as of fiscal year 2024. Nearly 87,000 passengers ride more than 300 Amtrak trains daily.”
Note: Donalds is running for Governor of Florida with an endorsement from President Trump.