NY Governor Threatens Lawsuit if Biden’s COVID-19 Relief Bill Doesn’t Patch State’s $15B Budget Hole

With the loss of taxes due to COVID-19-related closures and a massive increase in state service programs, the New York state government has projected a $59 billion budget shortfall by 2022.

During a budget presentation in the state capital of Albany on Tuesday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo threatened to sue the incoming Biden administration if it fails to deliver on COVID-19 pandemic aid.

The New York Times later reported that Cuomo’s office clarified he was referring to “continuing legal efforts to overturn the cap on state and local income tax deductions,” which federal courts have already rejected and Cuomo’s administration is in the process of appealing.

If Biden doesn’t deliver, the Democratic governor said stiff cuts to social services await. Even if the Empire State got just $6 billion of the $15 billion Cuomo cited, it would require a $2 billion cut from school funding, $600 million cut from Medicaid, and 5% across-the-board cuts for local governments, including the Big Apple. Tax hikes on the wealthy would also await, he said.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit the United States, New York City was the epicenter of the outbreak, suffering roughly 10% of the nation’s COVID-19 cases but 20% of its deaths in March, April, and May, as hospitals overflowed and makeshift morgues were set up on the streets outside.

Cuomo has sparred with New York’s most famous resident, US President Donald Trump, many times since Trump took office in 2017, but in one particularly nasty exchange in November 2020, Trump said that New York would be left out of a national COVID-19 vaccine rollout because of Cuomo’s objections to the government’s vetting process.

“Millions of doses will soon be going out the door,” Trump said in a November 13 speech at the White House Rose Garden. “As soon as April, the vaccine will be available to the entire general population, with the exception of places like New York state where, for political reasons, the governor decided to say – I don’t think it’s good politically, I think it’s very bad from a health standpoint – but he wants to take his time with the vaccine. He doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from … We won’t be delivering it to New York until we have authorization to do so.”

Sourse: sputniknews.com