In this episode, Joanna Pasceri and Jack O’Donnell discuss the current state of the New York State budget, the impact of federal funding cuts, local political dynamics, and legislative challenges in Congress. They explore the complexities of policy negotiations and the implications for various stakeholders.
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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- Things move pretty fast in Albany, even if sometimes they move slow.
- What really seems to be holding things up are primarily policy issues.
- New York State is not planning for potential federal funding cuts.
- The Eric Adams saga has been pretty wild over the last couple of years.
- Immediate impact on the Democratic primary is to Andrew Cuomo’s benefit.
- Legislators are feeling frustrated by the economic impact of tariffs.
- Getting legislators to vote yes is going to be harder as details emerge.
- Proxy voting is being abused according to Speaker Johnson.
- Discontent against leadership is increasingly rare in Washington.
- It’s fun to have a little whimsy in these heavy and petty times.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri (00:02.118)
One week past its due date, where does the New York State budget stand? Hi everyone. Welcome back to our Monday Morning Minute, the podcast version of our award-winning weekly newsletter, Monday Morning Memo. This is when we tap into the insights of our Jack O’Donnell, managing partner of O’Donnell and Associates and author of our Monday Morning Memo, who is closely following the budget grind in Albany.
This week in our memo, Jack predicts some progress toward a final spending plan this week. So let’s bring him in for an update. Hi, Jack.
Jack O’Donnell (00:38.579)
Hi Joanna, great to be talking with you in this budget season.
Joanna Pasceri (00:43.286)
Thanks.
I know it’s always so busy right now. Budget talks really didn’t make a lot of headway last week with the governor even implying she wasn’t in a rush. Then suddenly there seemed to be some urgency. So what’s going on there?
Jack O’Donnell (01:00.779)
Well, you know, things move pretty fast in Albany, even if sometimes they move fast to move slow. And I’ll tell you, you know, my optimism has has dropped since since we wrote the memo this morning. So, you know, I think that there is a lot of hope, a lot of a big push to try to get things done before Pass Over this weekend but I think you know it was a lot of efforts in pushing in the wrong direction are pushing in circles i’m starting to doubt that we’re gonna make that deadline and we may be going into next week
Joanna Pasceri (01:46.274)
You write in the memo of some major policy issues that still must be decided. Criminal justice and mental health reforms, a mask ban, funding the MTA, all weighty issues. So can they really be agreed upon in a matter of days?
Jack O’Donnell (02:04.255)
Well, the most interesting thing to me, and I think maybe the most frustrating thing to a lot of people involved in the state budget discussions, is that what really seems to be holding things up are primarily policy. Some policy issues, as you mentioned, they’re very weighty, very heavy stuff. But at the same time, I don’t think a lot has changed. think people’s… positions are where they are even though you know there’s widespread agreement that there there there might be an ability to compromise that said i think especially today and this is what happens is things drag on news that people get hardening their positions in so today we saw a couple of of new york city’s district attorneys in Albany giving a press conference, giving interviews, supporting the governor’s position on discovery reform, changing discovery rules. But then we saw a competing press conference with a lot of legislators, with some legal aid folks, some other defense attorneys staking out the exact opposite position and explaining why there could be no compromise and no change. And so I think we’re doing a little bit of going in circles here in Albany.
Joanna Pasceri (03:38.447)
Hmm. Well, also hanging over budget talks, the federal funding factor, the impact of cuts from Washington on New York’s bottom line. How is the state possibly preparing for this?
Jack O’Donnell (03:51.518)
Well, we wrote a lot about that this week, in large part because I think New York State is not planning for that. And look, there’s, I guess, valid argument on it that the leaders and the governors team have made that we don’t know if the cuts are coming, where they’re coming, what they’ll look like, and therefore be you know they they argue that it doesn’t make sense to to plan for cuts when you don’t know what they are. The flip side of that is that if you have to come back mid year and make budget cuts you have to cut twice as deep because a lot of that money is already flowed and so you know for the most part New York budget leaders are just trying to get this one done and in fairness they’ve been working on it since last year. So it’s hard to just react and we kind of need to wait and see what’s happening in Washington mean there are several good government groups out there that have been very critical of this position and really arguing that New York State needs to do more to prepare for these cuts but we don’t see that.
Joanna Pasceri (05:10.63)
Turning to New York City, Mayor Adams has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing and says he will run for reelection as an independent. So what kind of impact will that have on this race?
Jack O’Donnell (05:22.541)
Yeah i mean the eric adams saga has been pretty wild over the last couple years and it’ll be interesting to see where where where that ends I mean I I I do think immediate impact on the the democratic primary and him taking self out of out of that category is to andrew quomo’s benefit the a lot of eric adams voters are potential andrew quomal voters and and so not having atoms in the primary and not having the incumbent mayor in the primary on both probably good things for for andrew quomal as we head towards primary day.
Joanna Pasceri (06:06.693)
Lawmakers in DC also have their hands full negotiating a budget and dealing with the Trump tariffs. In the memo, you write about legislation in the works that would give Congress the authority to approve any new tariffs or to cancel them, supported by Democrats and a few Republicans. So does this go anywhere?
Jack O’Donnell (06:27.469)
Yeah I mean there’s a little nuance to it it’s it’s that a lot of these tariffs in the way that the president’s pushing them through or or based on emergencies that that have been declared and so what congress is is trying to do is is cancel those emergencies which would take away the president’s authority to impose the tariffs the the way he’s doing that
That’s the long answer. The short answer is no. It’s not gonna go far. Some support in the Senate. It is not gonna move in the House. And I think it’s more just an opportunity for legislators who are feeling very frustrated by a lot of what’s happening. The economic impact is just starting to show up certainly in stock prices and on Wall Street.
But we’re just beginning to see what the real impact of these terraces is going to be over the next few months and think it’s more an opportunity for legislators to to register their position rather than change things.
Joanna Pasceri (07:38.054)
I see. Well, back to the budget fight in DC. It moves to the House now that the Senate has advanced its version. How is that going to go?
Jack O’Donnell (07:47.96)
Well, boy, I think it’s anybody’s guess. mean, we’re deep in a budget quagmire here in Albany. But I think as we get further along in this budget, in this reconciliation process, getting legislators to vote yes as there’s more details about what things are going to happen is really what, you know, is going to make it harder for those legislators to take the vote and, and specifically, you know, I mean around cuts, around things like, making the, the Trump tax cuts permanent. there’s a sizable member, number of folks in the, house majority who think that the, Senate cuts don’t go far enough.
And and maybe this makes it harder for them and they’re also a of of group of mainstream arm republicans who will say these cuts go too far and so trying to find that balance i think is going to be hard for speaker johnson but he has you know a great tool in his in his arsenal there which which is donald trump and and Donald Trump tweeting, calling, cajoling legislators to vote for his initiatives and thus far that’s worked beautifully.
Joanna Pasceri (09:26.545)
A quick update on an issue we talked about last week, proxy voting in Congress. Women lawmakers strongly behind this for members who have given birth and can’t make the trek to D.C. to vote. Speaker Johnson says proxy voting is being abused. Do you think we’re going to reach a compromise here?
Jack O’Donnell (09:45.939)
Well, this one is another one worth watching. I think, and one of the reasons we’ve written about it a couple weeks in a row here is that it’s an opportunity where we’ve seen legislators go against what the speaker wants and any discontent or any statement of principles that is contrary.
To what the leadership is saying is increasingly rare in Washington. So they had the votes on this. had a couple New Yorkers vote for the proxy vote. The speaker was clearly very upset. He canceled votes the rest of the week. I don’t know that we’re going to see a compromise, but increasingly his members are asking for this and he refuses to listen at his peril.
Joanna Pasceri (10:40.851)
Favorite read this week in our news links?
Jack O’Donnell (10:43.679)
You we have fun story about New York City’s last typewriter repair shop on that I thought was worth checking out fun to have a little like women whimsy in these heavy and petty times
Joanna Pasceri (10:59.281)
It was the most read story this week. So obviously people agree with you.
Jack O’Donnell (11:04.389)
That’s great. Well, anybody who’s listening who hasn’t read it should should go and check it out
Joanna Pasceri (11:09.19)
Absolutely, that link and many more. So Jack, thanks for the deep dive into this week’s Monday Morning Memo. If you aren’t receiving our memo in your inbox each week, don’t miss out. Stay up on the issues that could affect you or your business. To sign up, just head to our website, odonnelsolutions.com. That’s odonnelsolutions.com. Thanks for joining us for our Monday Morning Minute. We’ll be back from the lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
