In this episode, Joanna Pasceri and Jack O’Donnell discuss the ongoing budget negotiations in Albany, New York, and the implications of federal budget battles. They explore key issues, potential changes in budget proposals, and the impact of the Trump administration’s policies on New York’s budget. The conversation highlights the complexities of political negotiations and the importance of timely decision-making in government spending.
Summary of this Episode
Guests
- Joanna Pasceri: Director of Communications at O’Donnell and Associates.
- Jack O’Donnell: Managing Partner at O’Donnell and Associates.
Major Topics Covered
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- NY One-House Budgets Incoming: The Senate and Assembly are finalizing their budget proposals, with no major surprises expected—just strategic positioning around spending priorities and policy emphasis.
- Key Budget Flashpoints: Contentious areas include potential tax hikes on high earners, changes to discovery laws, involuntary mental health confinement, and adjustments to the HALT Act for corrections officers.
- Impact of Trump-Era Federal Cuts: While federal budget cuts have yet to be formalized, New York lawmakers are beginning to prepare for possible policy clashes—especially on energy and environmental issues.
- Federal Budget Standoff Deepens: With the March 14 deadline approaching, the House GOP proposes a continuing resolution with defense increases and domestic cuts, but a shutdown remains possible amid division.
- Baseball and Politics Collide: Jack highlights a feature on Pete Rose and the irony of modern baseball’s embrace of betting—while Rose remains banned for gambling—with Trump voicing public support.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri (00:01)
Hi everyone, thanks for joining us for another episode of our Monday Morning Minute, the podcast version of Monday Morning Memo, our award-winning weekly newsletter. It’s when we turn to Jack O’Donnell, managing partner of O’Donnell and Associates and author of our Monday Morning Memo for deeper insight into the issues highlighted this week. Call it March Madness, politics style from New York to DC.
Joanna Pasceri (00:39)
In Albany, it is one-house budget time as talks continue on a new year spending plan for the state. What can we expect from the Senate and Assembly versions of the budget? And can everybody agree on a final deal by the April 1st deadline? Jack is in Albany with a close eye on the negotiations. So let’s bring him in to talk about what’s happening at the Capitol. Welcome, Jack.
Jack O’Donnell (00:57)
Hi Joanna, great to be back with you from the lobby.
Joanna Pasceri (01:01)
Things are really starting to gear up. Have we seen any details on the One House budgets yet?
Jack O’Donnell (01:07)
No, bits are slipping out, dribs and drabs. The Senate is right now, they had a very short session today and they are in, at least the majority is in conference, going over some details of the budget. So at least they’ve seen it before the public. But those will be out some point later today, sort of into the night slash into the morning here in Albany.
Joanna Pasceri (01:35)
Do you expect major changes in the legislature’s budget proposals compared to the budget released earlier this year by the governor?
Jack O’Donnell (01:43)
We don’t expect major differences. First and foremost, the governor proposed a pretty peaceful budget, guess. Certainly a cooperative or less than controversial budget this year. But we do expect some changes. mean, first and foremost, these are positioning documents. They’re an opportunity for the Assembly and the Senate and their individual members to go on the record about priorities and support for important constituencies for them. So there will certainly be some changes. I don’t think it’s going to be radical, but there’ll be some.
Joanna Pasceri (02:29)
which policy issues and what are you keeping an eye on things that you think might be the most contentious in this budget battle?
Jack O’Donnell (02:38)
Well, I think the first thing is just the overall number. I think within a range here, but we’ve in the past have seen things like the assembly propose some new taxes on the richest New Yorkers, which allows them to budget for a lot more spending and offer support for a lot of priorities. So the most important thing is that overall number.
How much do people expect to spend and where does it go? You know, one of the other issues that we know there’ll be some pushback from the legislature, one is on the discovery rules. This is something that the governor and district attorneys are pushing and defense folks and some civil rights folks have really pushed back on.
So we expect to see some pushback from the legislature, as well as the governor’s proposal around involuntary confinement. This is a big part of her push for public safety, but the legislature has always been really strong on individual civil rights and sort of how those play out.
You know, that’s another place where I expect we’ll see some real pushback. And then, you know, we talked a little about this in the memo, but the whole issue around the corrections officers strike, they’re working towards a resolution, but one of the things they push for that it seems that the Hochul administration has agreed to is some changes in how HALT
The Halt Act is implemented and sort of what that looks like. Now we haven’t seen those from the governor yet, but that’s going to be a piece of this.
Joanna Pasceri (04:37)
We are going to talk about the federal budget battle in a bit, but how do you think the recent flurry of cuts from the Trump administration will play into New York’s budget talks this year?
Jack O’Donnell (04:48)
Yeah, haven’t seen, you know, New York hasn’t really reacted to those yet. A lot of what we’ve seen from the Trump administration has been around individual contracts and some messaging, but the Congress and the Trump administration have not passed a budget yet. Like you said, we’ll talk about that. But so far, New York hasn’t really reacted to that.
You know, one of the things that I expect we’ll see today is around some issues like the environment around energy, you know, places where we expect the Trump administration to really, you know, have very different policies than the Biden administration and the Hochul administration and the legislature here in New York. So expect to see some on those issues that are a reaction to what’s happening in Washington.
Joanna Pasceri (05:45)
We lost a friend in Washington, didn’t we? Any predictions on whether all sides can come together by the deadline, April 1st?
Jack O’Donnell (05:48)
Absolutely.
Well, there are deadlines and then there are Albany deadlines. I don’t know that there’s any expectation here that there’ll be a budget by April 1st. That’s also a Tuesday and the legislature plans to be in session the rest of that week. I think the most optimistic people will be talking about that weekend. Last year, I think we got to April 20th.
So I don’t know, I’ll guess somewhere in between those two numbers right now.
Joanna Pasceri (06:31)
Okay, let’s get back to federal budget battle. It’s really getting down to the wire, the deadline this Friday, March 14th to fund the federal government to avoid a shutdown. What’s the holdup?
Jack O’Donnell (06:44)
The holdup is how we spend the money and what that looks like. on Sunday night, the House of Representatives proposed a six-month CR, a continuing resolution, that’s through the end of the federal fiscal year of September 30th. Now, in the last, I don’t know, recent memory. There have been a host of Republican members who’ve never voted for CR. Either they wanted to go through the regular budget process or they just don’t like to vote for spending. The proposal cuts about $13 billion in broad spending and then adds about $6 billion in defense spending.
And so that’s still a net down on and the hope is from the Republicans that they could get every member of the House Republican majority to vote for it. It’ll go through the rules committee tonight. We’ll have a sign of what that looks like. And then at least as of now, their plan is to vote on that on Tuesday and get out of town, putting all the pressure on the Senate. But it remains to be seen if they can get all those votes. President Trump is out there whipping votes. He’s been tweeting. He’s been calling members. But we’ll be watching that vote really closely.
Joanna Pasceri (08:16)
Oftentimes when this, come down to the wire like this, we do get a deal just in time. Do you think this is what will happen this time as well?
Jack O’Donnell (08:25)
Well, I don’t. I’m betting here, I bet that there’s going to be some kind of shutdown. How long that is and sort of where it goes is anybody’s guess. But at the same time, know, lot of folks didn’t expect them to actually get their budget blueprint, the outline that went through last week, they were able to get all the Republican members to vote for it. So we’ll see. I don’t know. think, Washington is always a little bit unpredictable, but it’s never been as unpredictable as it is right now, which is why, why we’re watching every day and reporting.
Joanna Pasceri (09:08)
We’ll be watching that closely for next week’s memo. Obviously, any other issues that you’re keeping an eye on this week?
Jack O’Donnell (09:15)
Really this funding, how it works in New York and what’s going to happen in DC, man, there’s a lot at stake for a lot of folks, including a lot of our clients. We’re watching this. We’re in the middle of it. We’re talking to folks 24 hours a day.
Joanna Pasceri (09:34)
Did you have a favorite read this week in our news links?
Jack O’Donnell (09:37)
You know, want to stick with this. Last week we talked a little about baseball and on this bright sunny day, I’m going to stick with it. We had a big look at Pete Rose, who as most people know had been banned from baseball because of he bet on baseball. And in this day and age where baseball has a lot of betting partners. You know, that seems very incongruous. you also have President Trump out there, tweeting his support for Pete Rose and sort of how, how that plays out. So I’m going to stick with the baseball. I’m, ready for spring Joanna.
Joanna Pasceri (10:17)
I know, aren’t we all? opening day just a few weeks away, I’m sure. So we can all get in the mood that way. Thank you for that, Jack. And thanks for the deep dive into this week’s Monday morning memo. If you’re not receiving our memo in your inbox every Monday morning, don’t miss out. Stay up on the issues that could affect you or your business. News is breaking fast these days. Stay on top of it with us. To sign up, just head to our website at odonnelsolutions.com.
That’s odonelsolutions.com. Thanks for joining us for our Monday Morning Minute. We’ll be back from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
