Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo sided with Gov. Paterson in his battle with state lawmakers yesterday, advising the governor to yank the Legislature’s prized pork-barrel spending as punishment for rejecting his spending plan.
In one of his strongest condemnations of the Legislature since their budget battle with the governor began, Attorney General Cuomo advised Paterson to slash pork-barrel spending, commonly known as member items, if negotiations don’t work.
“First step, negotiation and see if you can come to mutual terms. If not, Step Two is they pass their budget — you line-item veto any of the [additional spending proposals], you line-item veto the member items, because option three is shutdown and you can’t go to Option Three, in my opinion,” Cuomo said.
A state budget was due April 1, but Paterson and lawmakers have been unable to reach a deal, leaving the city in the lurch as the City Council prepares to pass its budget today, before its July 1 deadline.
Paterson has threatened to shut down state government if a deal is not reached, and he has the power to veto individual expenses in the plan he is given by the Legislature.
Cuomo said a shutdown would be “calamitous” and could harm the state’s credit rating, as well as deter businesses from opening in New York.
He also lambasted the Senate and Assembly for neglecting Paterson’s request for a contingency budget in the event the federal government doesn’t grant the state $1 billion in Medicaid funding.
“To do a budget without the Medicaid money would be irresponsible. I think the Legislature is dreaming on this one,” Cuomo said.
He also spoke strongly against any proposals that would raise taxes, saying “that is exactly the wrong thing for this state at this time.”