New York’s Incurable Spenders Coronavirus? Albany spends as usual as it awaits a federal rescue.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-yorks-incurable-spenders-11586717599?mod=opinion_lead_pos4
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says that Congress’s $2.2 trillion coronavirus bill short-changed New York, but then the $177 billion blowout budget he signed recently suggests that Albany doesn’t think it has to practice any spending discipline.
The state budget is $2 billion larger than last year’s despite what Mr. Cuomo says could be a $10 billion hit to revenues this year on top of a $6 billion deficit before the coronavirus. Legislators didn’t even attempt to triage spending or rationalize priorities.
The budget authorizes a $3 billion Restore Mother Nature Bond to “adapt to the intensifying impacts of climate change, and reduce emissions.” It also includes a 7.5% refundable tax credit for green jobs and a 5% investment tax credit for green projects. Expect every New York business to claim it’s “green.”
There are also hundreds of millions of dollars of more pork for upstate New York to make up for Mr. Cuomo’s ban on fracking, which the budget made permanent. The politicians made sure to help themselves too with $100 million in public campaign financing, including up to $375,000 for state Senate candidates and $175,000 for Assembly candidates.
Although New York hospitals are running on empty, the budget cuts $400 million that they usually get for treating uninsured patients. “Hospitals are getting more money [from Congress] than almost any other area the state budget covers,” Mr. Cuomo said. So he’s taking money from hospitals to fund his climate agenda and Albany’s incumbent re-election campaigns.
Mr. Cuomo did push through some sensible Medicaid reforms that cap long-term managed care enrollment, but this violates the “maintenance of effort” requirement that Congress imposed as a condition for a 6.2 percentage-point increase in federal Medicaid funding match for states. The New York Governor is joining the party of GOP governors who oppose such restrictions.
“Why would the federal government say, ‘I’m going to trample the state’s right to redesign its Medicaid program, that it runs—that saves money?’” Mr. Cuomo said the other day. “I don’t even know what the political interest is they’re trying to protect.” He can thank Democrats in Washington for tucking in this Medicaid poison pill.
The New York budget allows Medicaid cuts to be postponed so the state doesn’t lose federal dollars. It also authorizes the state to borrow $11 billion to finance its deficits. Congress has directed the Federal Reserve to set up a facility to lend to state and local governments, but in the case of New York it will be financing a state government that is spending as if the coronavirus didn’t exist.
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