Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Tuesday unveiled a state budget plan that calls for big spending on education, health care, social services and big tax breaks for certain sectors especially hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and economic closure orders.
But, there’s a catch: The ideas will become reality only if the incoming Biden administration and Congress provide the state with a direct aid package totaling $15 billion. If not, big cuts and tax hikes and borrowing are coming, Cuomo warned as released his 2021-22 state budget plan.
Such a level is higher than federal officials have been talking about going to New York in one pot of stimulus money from Washington that Biden and federal lawmakers say will total about $350 billion for all 50 states and local governments across the country.
Cuomo said his budget plan is about “reconciliation” of the costs of Covid-19, which he has said repeatedly is the responsibility of the federal government because of what he has called a botched job by Washington in handling the pandemic.
Replies