Gov. Kathy Hochul defended congestion pricing on Friday as she prepares to defend the nascent tolling program in a third phone call with President Donald Trump next week.

The toll helps fund the MTA, an agency that has numerous plans to use the money from congestion pricing to improve the city's public transportation system.

In an exclusive interview with NewsChannel 9, Governor Kathy Hochul said she’s “not going to panic every time something comes out of Washington.” Hochul sat down for the interview at NewsChannel 9’s studios just as news was breaking about the apparent reversal of the Trump Administration’s freeze on federal funding.

President Donald Trump and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul are expected to speak with each other again next week about

Hochul has engaged when necessary. She told reporters the spending freeze is harmful and backed Attorney General Letitia James leading a multistate lawsuit to squelch the pause. James, who has tangled with Trump since his first term, is poised to become a national figure with him back in the presidency.

President Donald Trump is considering revoking the approval congestioner pricing awarded under former President Joe Biden last year.

NY governor proposes tax cuts, rebate checks, bigger child tax credits and a fight for the federal SALT deduction. We'll see what sticks in the final budget.

The $252 billion proposal represents the largest spending plan of Hochul’s tenure and includes a pledge to modestly decrease the tax rate on households making under $323,200 a year. She has also proposed an expansion of a child tax credit for those with children under 4 years old.

And he has declined, repeatedly, to criticize Trump when pressed by reporters. He has expressed no qualms with Trump’s executive orders to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement, pardon Jan. 6 rioters and end birthright citizenship. In fact, it’s hard to remember when he last offered a negative word for the incendiary president.

Hochul lied saying “we have a whole list” of crimes that would trigger the state to hand over migrants to ICE.

THIS YEAR’S HOUSING PLAN?: After last year’s controversial housing package, Gov. Kathy Hochul is taking a chill pill this year on that front: Her proposed $252 billion budget does little to address the state’s worsening housing crisis this year.

Documents obtained by The Post show that Hochul’s administration quietly doubled the projected cost of the repairs from $41 million in 2022 to upwards of $80 million last fall, amounting to more