No budget deal as third week of negotiations begins
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- November
- 23
  After originally saying they would take the weekend to complete negotiations and prepare legislation, lawmakers and Gov. David Paterson ended the day Monday without an agreement on how to close the state’s $3.2 billion budget gap.
  “I believe the best way to say it is we’ve had the same stumbling blocks today as we’ve had for the last couple weeks,” Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County, said after emerging from a private meeting with legislative leaders and the governor Monday evening.
  Monday marked the start of the third week of special legislative sessions the governor called to resolve the budget deficit. It was unclear Monday whether Paterson and lawmakers would reach an agreement before Thanksgiving.
  “I don’t want to hold people for Thanksgiving, but whatever it takes to make this process work I will consider,” Paterson told reporters at an event in Niagara Falls Monday.
  The governor offered a $3.2 billion deficit-reduction plan. It would cut about $1.3 billion, including $686 million from education and $471 million from Medicaid. That would result in a total Medicaid reduction of $747 million due to a loss in federal matching funds.
  Senate Democrats and Republicans said they oppose mid-year cuts to education. Paterson has said any deficit-reduction plan must include education cuts.
  Senate Republicans are asking for the state to use $391 million of next year’s federal stimulus money to avoid having to cut school aid. They said Paterson first proposed using some of next year’s stimulus funding for education.
  Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said after the leaders meeting that his members agree with the governor that cuts are necessary.
  “Nobody likes to make serious cuts to anything, but the reality is, the fiscal situation, is that you have to make cuts so many of my members are prepared to make the right choices,” he said.
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 9:28 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Who Sez the right choice is to cut education and health care? To increase our costs for medical care? To wind up increasing property taxes for schools with less State Aid?
The Senate Republicans, Assembly Republicans and Senate Democrats – for different reasons – oppose MID-YEAR education and health care cuts. The Guv should take the $2 billion that they agree upon, DO IT, and start negotiating on how to close the last billion. AND STOP WHINING.