Lest anyone forgot our outrage over the dysfunction that is the State Senate, one only needs to take a peek at what's going on with the current deficit reduction plan to catch a wiff of the stink emanating from that body. The New York Times is out today with an op-ed today that squarely lays the blame for Albany's current mess at the Senate's feet.
If New York State runs its money supply down to a mere $36 million later this month - as predicted - the state will have to decide which bills to pay first. That means libraries, schools and taxpayers who qualify for a real estate tax rebate could all get their money later than usual, maybe a lot later.
And the blame for this latest financial squeeze will fall squarely on the New York State Senate - both Democrats and Republicans.
The State Senate, on the other hand, has done little more than issue press releases. Senators are too busy eyeing next year's elections, especially those lawmakers with the least political security - that is, a few suburban Democrats in dicey districts and all 30 of the Republicans, who want to regain the majority next year.
They don't want to do anything unpleasant or really difficult like pare state expenses in midyear - in other words do their jobs - even if it means facing an even larger deficit in April, perhaps as high as $10 billion.
We have Senators who can't work together, who don't want to do their job, and who don't have the policy and legislating chops to actually get anything done. In other words, the Senate is entirely dead-weight in this process. If we get lucky, maybe the Assembly and Governor Paterson will craft a decent deal. Otherwise, we'll be stuck with massive cuts because the lack of fortitude by either of those bodies to leverage progressive taxes against our top earners. Regardless of what we get, you can take it to the bank that it won't be because of the Senate. The Senate has wiped their hands of any responsibility in, you know, governing. |
