Response To The 2009-2010 Executive Budget

As anticipated, the Executive Budget proposed and presented to us by the Governor is filled with very painful decisions that will impact school children, senior citizens, working families, businesses and not-for-profit agencies across the entire state.

We have known from the beginning that balancing the budget will require real cuts, tough choices, and shared sacrifice.

That is the reality. Together, we have an obligation to deal with it head on.

Although the news is dire, Governor Paterson deserves praise for his straight-forward leadership throughout a fiscal crisis the likes of which I have not seen in my lifetime.

Knowing the Governor as I do, the core values that we share, the fights we have waged together for more than a decade …

• To achieve that desperately needed, multi-year commitment to this State's poorest schools and to the children in those classrooms;

• To make higher education more affordable for working families;

• To ensure that quality health care accessible to every New Yorker;

Knowing this, I am certain that these cuts were painful for him to even consider let alone to propose, and I respect the tough decisions that he made.

The Governor is proposing significant cuts to public education.

The fact of the matter is that education and healthcare together constitute more than 50% percent of our state budget.

There is no way you can address a deficit of the magnitude we are facing without finding savings in these major areas as well as in other areas.

The Governor has also proposed substantial savings from consolidation of agencies, "give backs" and changes in benefits for our public workforce.

The public employees of New York State keep us safe. They educate our children. They care for our disabled. They care for our elderly.

Nevertheless, tackling a budget deficit of this magnitude will require that our state workforce share in the sacrifices that will have to be made.

The Governor recognizes, as do we in the Assembly, that the budget cannot be balanced with spending cuts alone. So, he is proposing a new range of taxes and a new range of fees.

We will review all of the Governor's proposals to achieve savings and raise revenue, and we will advance cost-saving measures to address this crisis head on.

At the same time we will insist that this government be deliberate and thoughtful about cuts and not walk away from New York's historic obligation to the education, safety and health of our citizens.

Most of all, we will work to ensure that the burden of addressing this crisis - both in terms of cuts and increases in taxes and fees - does not fall disproportionately onto the backs of New York's working families.

Our Member and our staff review of the Executive Budget is already under way.

In addition, we will continue to work with the Governor, our colleagues in the Senate and with New York's Congressional delegation to ensure that any stimulus package enacted by President Obama and the new Congress provides support for state and local government, as well as vital infrastructure projects for New York State.

Let's be clear.

We are in the midst of a massive, global, financial crisis that is threatening the security of everyone from the Wall Street workforce, to small business owners in Buffalo, to senior citizens on Long Island, to farmers in Central New York, and to homeowners all over our state.

New Yorkers are not only losing their jobs. Our citizens are losing their homes, losing the value in their pensions, losing the ability to provide for their children's futures.

This reality cannot be ignored. This reality will not just go away.

Regardless of what Washington may or may not do, we have to confront this crisis head on - and we will!

We will pass a budget that contains significant cuts in spending.

We will demand that all New Yorkers - not just those that depend most on government services - share the sacrifice.

We will protect our most vulnerable citizens.