With Albany’s budget negotiations entering an unusually quiet stretch, Jack O’Donnell joins Joanna Pasceri on From the Lobby to explain why the silence may be the calm before a storm. In this week’s episode, O’Donnell unpacks Governor Kathy Hochul’s pending climate proposal, her contentious push to overhaul auto insurance, and the political forces lining up against both. The conversation then widens to a renewed discussion of a unified Ireland — amplified by St. Patrick’s Day remarks from Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Hochul — before turning to Washington, where the Senate again rejected an effort to limit U.S. military involvement in Iran, and to the GOP-backed SAVE America Act tightening voting rules ahead of the midterms.
Joanna Pasceri
No big headlines, no major announcements. What’s happening with budget talks in Albany right now? Hi everyone, and welcome back from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell. This is where we cut through the noise, or in this case the silence, and explain what’s happening in government and what it means for you. Joining us as always, is Jack O’Donnell, managing partner of O’Donnell & Associates. He’s talking to the people involved and tracking the conversations and watching where things are headed. Jack, great to have you back from the lobby.
Jack O’Donnell
Great to be with you from the lobby.
Joanna Pasceri
Let’s start in Albany, where I don’t think we’re hearing a lot right now. Doesn’t appear as if there’s a lot of movement or a lot of detail coming out. What’s happening with the budget talks?
Jack O’Donnell
The budget talks are very quiet thus far. I last night was leaving our Albany office and walked past the Legislative Office Building 7 at night and it was just dead there. So things are just a little quiet right now. I think there is a lot of anticipation about the governor’s climate proposal and sort of what that will mean, but nobody’s seen it yet until she launches. I think a lot of things are just a little bit on hold.
Joanna Pasceri
Well, let’s talk about that. As you said, we are waiting on Governor Hochul to lay out changes to the state’s energy targets, something she says is needed to keep costs from rising in the long run. Do you see any real path for changes here no matter what she comes out with?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, look, it’s the budget and the governor has the upper hand in the budget. She has the power. So do I see there chance to be some changes? Sure. I talked about Albany this week. It was louder earlier in the week in large part because there were a lot of climate activists, environmentalists in and around the Capitol making an awful lot of noise. We’ve heard loudly and clearly from several members of the state legislature how opposed they are to this. So I don’t know, a lot of it is in the details. What is she proposing? How much time is she pushing it back? What does that mean? But this is likely to be one of the most contentious issues here and one that, you know, very likely might put us into budget overtime.
Joanna Pasceri
Well, the governor this week also pushing hard for her plan aimed at lowering insurance costs by going after fraudulent claims and limiting damages in certain cases. This is auto insurance costs. But the Senate and the Assembly did not include this issue in their budgets. So where do you think this issue goes?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, I think along with climate, this is the other most contentious issue. We again saw the trial lawyers lobby and their members were in Albany this week making the rounds. They are a very politically potent force in Albany and folks who spend an awful lot of money and have corresponding influence there. So we saw their pushback in the Senate and Assembly one houses. We also saw the governor rallying with insurance companies and kind of folks on her side. We saw her put out a very interesting video that was supposed to highlight this. So this is another place where there’s going to be a big fight. Now, this one, maybe there’s a little more room to compromise. Maybe there are pieces of her proposal that do not include caps on personal injury awards. Everyone can get together and say, we’re against the fraud, but that’s not the same thing as saying that if you are a victim, that you can’t sue to exert your rights. And, like so many other issues in Albany, these issues don’t just stand on their own. The cap on injuries also applies to a lot of other things, including construction injuries and the negligence standard in New York and things that bring in a lot of other powerful vested interest in Albany. So these two are really the stickiest wickets, if you will, Joanna, that we’re going to hear a lot about over the next couple weeks.
Joanna Pasceri
We’ll definitely be following them closely. As we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day this week, there was renewed discussion about a unified Ireland, including comments from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who went from non-committal to very vocal. Governor Hochul also voicing support for a unified Ireland. What should people know about this?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, they should know that it’s time for a unified Ireland. I mean, look, anytime Zohran Mamdani speaks, it gets an awful lot of attention. And obviously St. Patrick’s Day and people’s celebrations also bring this issue to the forefront. But we do a lot of work in Ireland. We have several clients there. We spend time there. And so this is an issue kind of near and dear to my heart and something I care passionately about. Ireland has been under various stages of British rule and interference for over 800 years. So it’s a story for a longer podcast, I guess. But what happened is, 1916, there’s the Easter Rising, which eventually leads to the Free State, and then the Republic for two thirds of the island for 26 of the counties, but they introduced this partition and several parts of the north of Ireland, six counties up there, still remain as part of the United Kingdom. And so this has been really contentious since those things happened in the ’20s. Right. So over 100 years now. And one of the pieces of that Good Friday Agreement included that at a date in the future there would be an all-island referendum, a vote on whether to unify. And a lot of folks think it’s time for that, if not right now, at least that the governments of both areas and both communities should be doing some work to kind of prepare for that vote and for what could happen after that. I do think there is some work going on behind the scenes. We’ve been fortunate in some of our trips to get to know folks in the Irish government and some other folks in politics and in local government in the north. And I do think some of this is going on. But it gets very interesting when you put it in the context of first American politics. So many of these things, like the Good Friday Agreement, have come about because of American political support for the cause of Ireland and Irish freedom. And so that’s been a long standing thing to have governors of New York and mayors of New York City weigh in. But it also gets really even more complicated in these days. So many people in Ireland are vocally and even more than just with words, but in action supportive of the Palestinian cause. They would say another people subject to imperialism. But New York City is also home to the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. And so, obviously a lot of support for Israel from American politicians and mayors of New York City. Really kind of interesting geopolitical overtones to what is often just a fun day for people to celebrate their heritage. But there’s a lot more to it.
Joanna Pasceri
Thank you for that explanation. Let’s head to Washington. The Senate just rejected another effort to limit U.S. military involvement in Iran. That conflict has now stretched into its third week. What does that vote tell us? What’s next?
Jack O’Donnell
Well, the vote tells us that Republicans remain united behind President Trump. This was mostly a party line vote, one Democrat against it, one Republican the other way. But this is very controversial everywhere in the country, but especially with a lot of folks in the president’s base who supported him because he promised to keep us out of these wars and put America first. And so the vote is most interesting to me as a reflection that Republicans in the Senate, even if they’re hearing it from constituents feeling that pressure, are staying with the president. But look, the pressure on the White House, on the leaders from the Pentagon on down to actually explain things to Congress, to answer questions, to talk to the American people about what the rationale is, the longer this goes on, the pressure on them to answer questions, explain things, testify in front of Congress, that’s going to only continue to accelerate and grow.
Joanna Pasceri
And another issue moving through Congress, the GOP-backed SAVE America Act, which would require photo ID to vote and other tightening of election rules. President Trump pushing hard as we head toward the midterms with this. Does this have a real shot at passing?
Jack O’Donnell
Most close observers tell us no, that it doesn’t. I don’t think they have the votes to do it. But the same thing, there are a lot of Republicans in Congress who say they need this to win in the midterms. Allegations from one side about fraud on the other are nothing new. This has gone on for a long time. Accusations and vote intimidation and trying to pick your voters or limit people who aren’t going to vote for you. This has gone on for a long time as well. Both things are part of our nation’s fabric. I don’t think this is going to pass, but Republicans want to keep talking about it and really put some pressure, at least get their narrative out there into the press.
Joanna Pasceri
Jack, always good to get your take. Thanks for joining us.
Jack O’Donnell
I will just leave you with the first bit of Gaelic that I learned when I was younger, which is Tiocfaidh ár lá, which is the Irish way of saying our time will come. So it’s something that, for a very long time it was fun that we got to work it into From the Lobby this week.
Joanna Pasceri
Yes, it was very cool. Thanks so much, Jack. A lot still unsettled right now in Albany, in Washington and heading into a big election cycle. We’ll be watching how all of this plays out. And if you want to stay ahead of it, make sure you’re reading Jack’s Monday Morning Memo — a clear, no-paywall look at the stories shaping policy and politics each week. You can sign up at odonnellsolutions.com. Thanks for listening, everyone. We’ll see you next time from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
