In this episode, Joanna Pasceri and Jack O’Donnell discuss the ongoing budget impasse in New York, the impact of federal funding on state budgets, and the critical role of Congress members like Elise Stefanik. They delve into the complexities of proxy voting and the disagreements within Congress regarding the budget blueprint, highlighting the challenges lawmakers face in reaching consensus
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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- The New York budget is facing delays due to several key issues.
- Federal funding cuts could significantly impact New York’s budget.
- Elise Stefanik’s vote is crucial for the Republican agenda in Congress.
- Proxy voting has become a contentious issue among lawmakers.
- Congress often postpones difficult decisions regarding the budget.
- The budget process involves complex negotiations and compromises.
- Lawmakers are concerned about mid-year budget cuts and their implications.
- The Senate and House are at odds over the budget blueprint.
- Understanding the positions of Congress members is vital for political analysis.
- The podcast provides insights into the legislative process and current political challenges.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri (00:01.547)
Hi everyone. It’s time for another edition of Monday morning minute, the podcast version of our award winning newsletter, Monday morning memo. It’s when Jack O’Donnell managing partner of O’Donnell and associates and author of our Monday morning memo joins us from the lobby for a deeper dive into the issues making news this week.
New York budget impasse is our top story with lawmakers now certain to miss the April 1st deadline to have a final spending plan in place. So what’s the holdup? Let’s bring in Jack to talk more about what’s happening in Albany. Hi, Jack.
Jack O’Donnell (01:10.615)
Hi Joanna, great to be with you from the lobby.
Joanna Pasceri (01:14.752)
Leaders in the legislature broke the news last week, no deal by the deadline, admitting talks had stalled. So what’s behind the delay? What are you hearing?
Jack O’Donnell (01:25.143)
Well, not a big surprise. The last few budgets have been anywhere between a few days and a few weeks late. And so, you know, I think the idea of an on-time budget has just lost some of its urgency. But broadly, there’s four issues that are holding up the budget. And again, we’ve talked about these a lot in the memo, but…
you know, a couple of criminal justice things around discovery, also about people with mental illness and when they should be confined, when they should be left to their own devices. Those are two issues that the governor added an issue about a ban on, on masks, especially around protests and some anti-Semitic incidents that we’ve seen.
And then finally, there’s this broader issue about revenue and the MTA and funding the MTA capital plan. Nobody has that. The governor in her executive submission, the assembly and Senate don’t really fund that. So figuring out how to do it, which is going to involve some new taxes or fees is pretty controversial.
But look, the speaker of the assembly last week said that they had made progress on a couple issues, but really they were waiting for language, specific language from the governor’s office. We know there were some at least staff conversations over the weekend. The legislature is not in session today on Monday. We expect them to be back tomorrow, pass an extender.
And sort of tonight, tomorrow, we’ll get a better feel for where this is going.
Joanna Pasceri (03:15.01)
How long do you think these talks will drag on?
Jack O’Donnell (03:18.839)
Well, Joanna, if I knew that answer, you know, I’d be the amazing Kreschkin or something. mean, you know, these, these, broader economics of the budget are broadly agreed to. It’s kind of these four big issues and it’s a lengthy process, right? The leaders have to have an agreement. Their staffs have to memorialize that, write that down into legislative language.
The leaders need to share that with their conferences to talk about, know, do they have the support for it? What it means? Can they get a compromise? So, you know, this could move very quickly, but, you know, I suspect we’re going to be in this the same position. Maybe I made a little progress next week.
Joanna Pasceri (04:06.042)
The elephant in the room, so to speak, in these budget talks is Washington, D.C., and the fear that the Trump administration will cut state funding, upending New York’s bottom line. So how can lawmakers prepare for it?
Jack O’Donnell (04:20.227)
Well, you’re right. mean, that’s the $64,000 or $93 billion question here is what to do about that. I mean, that’s roughly what New York State got from the federal government last year, about $93 billion. Most of that’s around Medicaid, as well as some education funding, transportation funding, a couple other things. The folks in Albany have kind of made a decision here to to not wait, right? New York has a fairly unique thing in this April 1st budget year. And so they made a decision to just carry on, you know, with a tacit, unspoken agreement that if they need to, the legislature and the governor will be back at this, you know, when necessary, maybe in September, depending on what happens with the federal budget.
And make cuts as necessary, but it is much harder, it’s much more painful to make mid-year budget cuts. Really difficult for everybody who relies on that state funding, whether it’s a school district, whether it’s a municipality, you know, people doing construction projects, all those different people face real challenges, but…
You know, it’s also really hard for New York state to say we know we’re going to get cut this much or that much. So, just carrying on and waiting, we’ll wait and see.
Joanna Pasceri (05:51.845)
You write in the memo how New York representative Elise Stefanik is back in North country after Trump reversed course on nominating her as UN ambassador. How critical is her vote in Congress?
Jack O’Donnell (06:05.094)
Well, I guess it’s very critical. mean, the numbers are really tight. I mean, look, the Republicans in the Senate and in the House have done really a masterful job, you know, strong assist to President Donald Trump there in keeping people in line. But they’ve been able to do that by kind of pushing off some of the hard decisions, whether those are on cuts to the states or state programs.
And sort of what that means. so at some point, if they’re going to move forward with the Trump agenda, they’re going to have to get people to take those votes. for that, it looks like they think they need Elise Stefanik. And frankly also, she has been a very loud voice supporting that Trump agenda. That’s part of why she was selected for this job in the first place.
But I think folks in Congress, the president decided he needs her more in Washington.
Joanna Pasceri (07:06.994)
Well, you write this week about another battle in Congress, this to allow proxy voting. The speaker is against it, but some lawmakers are really pushing for it, saying it’s necessary, especially after women electives give birth. Why is there a fight about this?
Jack O’Donnell (07:22.546)
Well, this proxy voting became really a proxy, you will, I don’t know, became representative of some of the big splits between Democrats and Republicans during COVID. You know, I think in the beginning, everybody thought proxy voting and some of these things were okay. Speaker Johnson voted a number of times by proxy himself.
But then it came down to this fight over reopening governance, reopening businesses, reopening schools and states. And Republicans came down really hard on people should be there to do their jobs. And I think, you know, a lot of people broadly support that, certainly the majority of Republican electeds in Congress. But that said, there’s a little wrinkle here, which is that there’s a Democratic member who has been circulating what’s called a discharge petition, which if it gets enough signatures, forces a vote on that measure. And she’s gotten a lot of support on that, especially in both parties in Washington. And so it’s going to be a choice for Speaker Johnson, especially with the announcement recently that one of his members is pregnant and giving birth in a couple months. So some tough choices there.
Joanna Pasceri (08:48.05)
How do you think that goes in the end?
Jack O’Donnell (08:51.113)
Well, I suspect Congress does what they do on a lot of hard issues, which is punt. They can take the issue and put it on a committee and push it to the side and kind of talk it to death.
Joanna Pasceri (09:06.354)
Well, meantime, Congress did set a deadline for April 11th. It’s a it’s right before a two week break to adopt a budget blueprint. The House and Senate, you write, are at odds over how this should look. So what happens here?
Jack O’Donnell (09:22.431)
Well, this is again where I think Congress, the majorities have done a really good job of keeping folks together, but at some point they need to make decisions about what they’re voting on. But once again, it looks like they’re trying to kick that can down the road. And so what they’re talking about is these, the Senate and assembly blueprints, if you will, need to match so they can use this process called reconciliation to to change the budget and move stuff forward. That’s a complicated mechanism that lets you get around the 60 vote filibuster threshold in the Senate. But to do that, both houses have to vote on the same thing. And as you mentioned, and as we wrote, they’re not aligned. And so instead of actually aligning on the details, what they’re working on or crafting is a a document that says, we’ll work on this later, right? We’ll let the committees of jurisdiction go and make their own cuts later, which would allow members to say, I didn’t vote for any cuts. And that’s the hard part here. Folks on the more conservative side want to see real budget cuts, both in terms of education and healthcare. Some of them even in military funding.
And then there are a lot of Republican members that are in swing or swingier districts that are facing a tougher decision and need to, you know, don’t want to cut vote for cuts to things like transportation funding. And so by voting on a blueprint rather than an actual document, it allows them to just postpone those choices.
Joanna Pasceri (11:13.588)
Favorite news link in this week’s memo?
Jack O’Donnell (11:16.404)
You know, there was a lot on some of these budget pieces and that’s really, you know, that’s really what we’re following. think, you know, getting to know which members are where and who’s willing to take some risks and which ones are hiding is really important as you kind of peruse these articles.
Joanna Pasceri (11:35.517)
Check it out. Lots of interesting links, information, and insight all inside our Monday Morning Memo. You can find it on our website at odonnelsolutions.com. That’s odonnelsolutions.com. While you’re there, be sure to sign up to have our memo delivered straight to your inbox. It’s an easy way to stay on top of today’s fast-breaking news at no cost to you. Thanks for joining us, Jack, and thanks for joining us for this Monday Morning Minute. We’ll be back.
From the Lobby with Jack O’Donnell.
