The New York State budget has to be dramatically overhauled, but the economic stimulus bill currently in the Senate is going to be a huge boost and a great deterrent to some of the worst cuts proposed in Albany. The primary purpose of the stimulus here was to save Medicaid, shown by the $10 billion going directly to reimburse the state for that reason alone. The rest is for the MTA, police agencies and rebuilding roads.
From Newsday:
The $819 billion program backed by President Barack Obama, which the House began debating Tuesday, has some $737 million in Medicaid relief what will go directly to upstate counties, as will at least $860 million in education aid, Sen. Charles Schumer said Wednesday. For New York City, the package includes about $1.8 billion in Medicaid funding and a minimum of $1.6 billion in education aid. He said the House and Senate versions of the measure are almost the same. The measure covers a period of nine fiscal quarters, a little more than two years. "It's not a panacea," Schumer said, stressing that it won't keep local officials from having to make spending cuts. But it keeps officials upstate from having to immediately choose between major property tax increases and program cuts for two years, while giving the city "a shot in the arm."A shot in the arm is better than nothing, and with all of this money being handed out, it is necessary that New York gets its fair share. A panacea it is not though, and the remaining gaps must be corrected with a few spending cuts, but also with tax increases for those that can afford it. I cannot stress it enough, we need to engage in shared sacrifice, even including those that make hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. The poor and middle classes are already suffering enough, now the wealthy need to feel some of that pinch.
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