Final push for new budget to begin
Many legislators return to Albany Tuesday unhappy with Cuomo
ALBANY, N.Y. >> Legislators return to Albany Tuesday to start the final push for a new $162 billion state budget, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and President Donald Trump setting the stage for what promises to be a tumultuous few weeks at the state Capitol.
Trump is reviled by Democrats who control state government because of his promise to roll back Obamacare and clamp down on illegal immigration. Republicans are watching what Trump’s cascade of policy pronouncements will mean for New York, from possible cuts in Medicaid healthcare funding to eliminating the federal deductibility of state and local taxes.
GOP and Democratic legislators alike are unhappy with Cuomo for blocking a pay raise in December and for the tight grip on state spending that has been his hallmark in two terms as governor.
“A lot of our members in both houses on both sides of the aisle feel that he is usurping the independent role of not only the New York State Assembly but the New York State Senate,” Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan said this week of Cuomo’s budget power during an interview on Susan Arbetter’s “The Capitol Pressroom” radio show. “We have a constitutional functional perspective and operational status here that we’re not going to simply give away.”
Flanagan dismissed as “hogwash” Cuomo’s accusation that legislators want to return to the days of uncontrolled member item spending.
“It’s not fit for the type of Legislature that we should have, the type of relationship that should go back and forth between the executive and the Assembly and the Senate,” Flanagan said.
As for Cuomo, he left no doubt this week that while the budget process may chug along, much
of his attention will be devoted to the war on Trumpism.
“To the Democrats in Congress: they better stand up and they better fight,” Cuomo said this week at a 1199SEIU union rally in the Bronx. “They better show us what they’re made of because there is no going back. They have to learn – they have to stand up and learn from what the Republicans did when they didn’t agree with something. And the Republican Congress fought Bill Clinton every step of the way. The Republican Congress fought Barack Obama every step of the way.”
“It’s time to stand up and show us what you’re made of,” Cuomo continued. “This is not a time to make a deal. It’s not a time to get political. It’s time to get principle and remember who you are; and who sent you there; and who you represent; and who you’re fighting for; and what the Democrats are all about; and what the people of the state demand; and
what the people of this nation demand.”
Deals will be on the table with the new budget, which is due April 1 and has been remarkably on time during Cuomo’s years in office.
While March is traditionally when groups seeking state funding descend on the Capitol for mass demonstrations, this year Trump is adding a new twist. Grassroots Trump supporters have announced a “Trumpmania” day in Albany in late March.
Revenue projections are due out within days that will help set the parameters of a new spending plan, with conference committee ready to go by mid-March. Cuomo has proposed a slew of new taxes and fees, as well as free tuition for most students at SUNY and CUNY.
Since becoming governor in 2011, Cuomo has steadily accrued more power, especially where it pertains to handing out grants and other money for pet projects. One of the projects Cuomo has pushed through is the $750 million SolarCity factory building in Buffalo that is still not producing solar panels 6 months after its completion.
SolarCity’s owner Tesla said this week it is rethinking its use of the plant, which Cuomo has heralded as the economic rebirth of Buffalo. Plans still call for production to begin sometime later this year, though Tesla says SolarCity’s financial outlook faces many challenges.
Cuomo has also directed money to be spent on a film production studio in Syracuse that is unused and a proposed chip-fab plant in Marcy that was shelved. He’s also tapped job creation funds for a planned $20 million parking lot ramp at the NYS fairgrounds.
Cuomo has taken keen interest in Buffalo because the state’s second largest city is a Democratic stronghold. In Syracuse, Cuomo is feuding with Democratic Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner while maintaining a close relationship with Republican Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney.
And in Albany, Cuomo continues to keep a low profile, limiting media press conferences and dispensing with briefings on the status of budget negotiations.