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The $252 billion spending plan for New York addressed concerns about affordability, crime and the cost of living, but did little to anticipate President Trump’s policies.
Jan. 21, 2025, 2:03 p.m. ET
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York unveiled on Tuesday a $252 billion executive budget that seemed intended to appease New Yorkers dissatisfied with the rising cost of living rather than to address President Trump’s policies that may hurt the state.
The proposed budget includes funding for about $1 billion in middle-class tax cuts, $3 billion in rebate checks for millions of New Yorkers, $800 million for an expansion of the state’s child tax credit, $340 million for school meals for every student and close to $60 million for more police officers on subway trains — all designed to address concerns about affordability, crime and the cost of living.
The spending plan represented a nearly $8.6 billion increase from the current budget, largely because of vast jumps in Medicaid and education spending.
Perhaps most significant is what Ms. Hochul’s budget did not include. She offered no contingency plans in case President Trump makes good on his vow to halt congestion pricing, which would stop the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
It also did not identify potential alternate funding streams in response to the Republican-led federal government’s likely focus on cutting money from social service programs like the Affordable Care Act. Blake G. Washington, Ms. Hochul’s budget director, said in an interview that the governor’s office would wait and see what comes from Congress and the White House.
“There will be a lot of advocacy to prevent a lot of that, but until that happens, we deal with the current law,” Mr. Washington said of potential cuts.
