Republican senators fight the budget in Albany
Long Island's Republican delegation in the state Senate continues to fight the state budget supported by Democrats and Gov. David Paterson. Republicans are looking to knock out billions in new taxes
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Apr 2, 2009, 11:12 PM
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Updated 5,681 days ago
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Long Island's Republican delegation in the state Senate continues to fight the state budget supported by Democrats and Gov. David Paterson.
Republicans are looking to knock out billions in new taxes and fees aimed at cutting the state's deficit. They also want to kill income tax hikes on top earners and restore Star rebates.
"Property taxpayers on Long Island are choking and it's wrong to take [Star rebates] from then," says Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre).
The Republicans are pushing to use federal stimulus funds in place of the hikes and fees. Long Island's two Democratic senators question whether those funds can even be diverted for that purpose.
"What the Republicans are offering today is nothing more than political decisions without any form of fiscal reality," says Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington).
"We've inherited a real budgetary mess, and it's going to take us more than one budget cycle to clean up these problems," adds his colleague Sen. Brian X. Foley (D-Blue Point).
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