The war in Iran was good news for Gov. Kathy Hochul: it gave her someone else to blame for the high energy costs brought on by her own policies. After years of pushing aggressive Green New Deal mandates that have handcuffed New York’s economy, she has found a convenient foil in President Trump to deflect from the economic pain created in Albany.
For years, Hochul and her progressive colleagues have insisted their climate agenda would lead to a cleaner future without placing an unreasonable burden on residents. In reality, the state’s rush toward electrification and the rapid phaseout of fossil-fuel energy has caused steeply rising electricity and heating costs. Despite warnings from even inside Hochul’s own administration that costs would rise, Democrats refused to abandon their ruinous climate dream.
Now that energy costs are spiking even higher, the governor is eager to point to the war in Iran as the reason people are struggling with their electric bills. But New Yorkers know the truth: their energy costs were climbing long before President Trump decided to teach the mullahs a lesson. Albany’s mandates and unrealistic timelines were already squeezing family budgets, and relief was nowhere in sight.
Affordability be damned, the state’s political leadership continues to increase spending at a pace far beyond what taxpayers can handle. Their latest budget plan hikes spending by more than $13 billion, pushing the total well past $260 billion. For a state that already ranks among the most expensive places in the nation to live, this relentless growth in government raises an obvious question: When will taxpayers get a break?
Instead of reducing spending or reconsidering policies that have driven up the cost of living, Albany’s answer often involves creating new subsidies, rebates, and programs meant to soften the blow. Those measures may provide temporary relief, but they do nothing to address the underlying problem—government decisions that make energy, housing, and everyday life more expensive.
The reality is simple. New York’s affordability crisis was not caused by events overseas. It was created much closer to home, in the halls of the Capitol, where political ambition and ideological energy policies have collided with the financial reality faced by millions of taxpayers.