State Budget Update By Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano
Albany had one job: deliver an affordability plan that actually lowers costs for New York families. They failed. Instead of a budget agreement, what we got was a press conference — no deal reached, no real plan — just a $268 billion spending record and a one-time rebate check they’re calling a solution.
The dysfunction speaks for itself. The leaders of the Assembly and the Senate wouldn’t even stand beside the governor this morning. That is not a governing coalition; that is a majority party that cannot agree on the most basic question: How do you make New York affordable again? The answer, apparently, is that they don’t know.
And New Yorkers are paying the price for that failure. Higher electric bills. Heating costs families can’t keep up with. Auto insurance premiums among the worst in the country. A housing crisis pricing out an entire generation. These are not accidents; they are the predictable result of years of broken priorities and no accountability.