Lawmakers hold dueling press conferences on congestion pricing

State lawmakers are quickly picking sides on the congestion pricing debacle after Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would indefinitely delay the Manhattan toll plan. On Thursday, a geographically diverse group of members from the state Senate and Assembly pledged their support for the delay and vowed to find an alternative to fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital plan. However, it remains unclear what method they will favor. 

For some, the difference between indefinitely delaying congestion pricing and simply not doing it is unclear. “There's different definitions for that, but my goal is to make sure that this is not implemented,” said Staten Island state Sen. Jessica Scarcela-Spanton, who has long called for the congestion pricing plan to be scrapped.

“Time will tell,” she said. “If you asked me this question yesterday, ‘is the governor going to pause this?’ I would have said it was crazy, so you never know what's going to happen.”

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