State Legisture, Gov. Paterson still fighting over budget
| Last Update: 5:58 pm |
Instead, the Democratic majorities of the Senate and Assembly plan to pass their own budget bills Monday. Their spokesmen say the governor missed a deadline to submit the bills under law, allowing the Legislature to reject them.
The Democratic governor said the Legislature's bills add about $400 million in spending without providing a way to pay for it. He claims the Legislature's budget would be out of balance.
After the event was played out for TV cameras, Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook said the Legislature has never refused to
accept a governor's budget bills.
"A lot of things haven't been done before," said Senate Democratic leader John Sampson, summing up how all sides pushed the limits of their legal authority over a contentious weekend. The leader of the Democrats, with a 32-30 seat majority, said he's confident he will have the 32 votes needed to pass the Legislature's bills today.
Senate Democratic majority spokesman Austin Shafran called Paterson's bill "an unnegotiated threat."
"If we didn't reject the governor's unnegotiated bill, he could claim it trumps the Legislature's ability to vote on the bills we have joint agreement on," Shafran said.
The feuding executive and legislative branches have confounded even veteran lawmakers as to what will happen next. But most agreed Monday morning that the Legislature will pass its bills, followed by Paterson's vetoes.
That could lead to an override attempt where Senate Republicans, who are angry Democrats have excluded them from most budget negotiations, could block the two-thirds vote needed to overturn any Paterson vetoes.
Sampson, however, said he spoke with the governor Sunday night and still hopes for a negotiated budget with agreement from the Assembly, Senate and governor.
Paterson's delivery of his budget bills and rejection of them by the Senate and Assembly was quietly done Sunday night among staffers, but was repeated Monday with notice to news organizations.
AM Coverage
(Governor's Office )
Paterson promptly said he would veto all of the Legislature's proposals as too expensive if they pass their budget proposal that's out of balance and unaffordable. He specifically threatened lawmakers' pork-barrel spending, 6,800 grants totaling $193 million to programs and groups back in their home districts, a critical tool in this election year.
The latest confrontation over the budget raged through the weekend. Paterson had ordered lawmakers into an extraordinary session Sunday a day after the Assembly and Senate announced their surprise agreement on a $136 billion budget. Paterson had ordered them to consider the elements of his budget they rejected.
On Sunday, the Assembly and Senate each met for four minutes, never taking up Paterson's proposals. They also said he lacked the authority to order them into extraordinary session again. They used a parliamentary strategy of never technically gaveling out of an extraordinary session several months ago. Lawmakers argue a governor can't compel them to Albany - as Paterson has done more any other governor - because the chambers were, technically, always in extraordinary session.
"I think that's kind of appalling," Paterson told reporters.
It's the latest show of rising tension over the budget. Paterson said he will veto all $519 million of the Legislature's additions if lawmakers continue to act irresponsibly and refuse to create a Medicaid contingency fund. Paterson insists New York will lose all or most of $1 billion in Medicaid reimbursement promised by Washington, but which now is threatened.
Legislative leaders say they are more optimistic and will deal with any shortfall weeks or months from now. Paterson said he might veto at least some of the Legislature's adds, even if lawmakers agree to the contingency fund. He also acknowledged that if the Legislature approves its own budget bills Monday there will be no chance of a shut down of government. Shutting down government has been Paterson's hammer for a month, during which he forced the Legislature to pass 70 percent of the budget through weekly emergency spending bills.
Senate leader John Sampson, a Brooklyn Democrat, sought to downplay the confrontation.
"I had to do what we had to do as the leader of the Senate to make sure that we negotiated not from a position of weakness, but from a position of strength on the same level playing field and that's what we're doing ... we took up his challenge. We're going to get it done."
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said Paterson gave the two chambers the motivation needed to oppose and block Paterson's emergency spending bill.
"There is no shutdown," Silver said. "Our bill will cover that."
Silver said the Legislature's budget is necessary to restore $600 million to school aid, compared to the $400 million the governor was ready to do in his Monday bill. The restoration is against Paterson's January budget proposal in which he called for a $1.4 billion cut to school aid, or about 5 percent, to help contend with a $9.2 billion deficit.
Paterson tried to claim victory in the Legislature's attempt to outflank him.
"I've been asking for that, as you know, for three months, and perhaps the pressure of the emergency appropriations got them to finally do what they should have done three months ago," Paterson said.
The Legislature rejects Paterson's plan to sell wine in grocery stores to raise revenue and boost the wine industry. The Legislature also rejects Paterson's plan to "empower" the public universities with more autonomy and the authority to raise tuition by up to 8 percent annually over the next four years. The Assembly and Senate also reject Paterson's proposal to cap the growth on local property taxes, including school taxes, to about 4 percent a year to stem some of the nation's highest property taxes.
Paterson and the Legislature agree on some revenue producing measures. They include:
-Eliminating the sales tax exemption on clothing and shoes costing under $110. The exemption would end in October, the return April 1, but exempt clothing and shoes worth $55. The $110 exemption would return April 1, 2012. That is supposed to bring in $330 million.
-Cutting in half the charitable deductions for about 3,500 New Yorkers who make at least $10 million a year.
-Expanding the hours of the Quick Draw gambling game run by the Lottery Division often in bars, which critics have called video crack.
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