Failure to Bring Forward a Deficit Reduction Plan

“The past three weeks of failure to bring a deficit reduction plan forward for an up or down vote turned the recent Special Session into a waste of time, and more importantly, a waste of taxpayers’ money. Today’s action by the Governor, to finally submit a plan, should have been done weeks ago. Instead, we have been waiting since October 15 when the Governor first proposed his DRP. Having come from the private sector, I know that if a business was run as inefficiently and ineptly as state government, it would be out of business. We need to return to Albany and hold an up or down vote on a DRP – no more excuses, delays, or political deal-making. Hold a vote and stop wasting time and the taxpayers’ money. These three weeks of failure to deal with the deficit are a perfect reminder why our state government needs a ‘People’s Convention to Reform New York,’ so we can break the partisan gridlock and end the legislative inertia that has marred this Special Session. Besides voting against the 2009-10 State Budget which put New York on a path toward financial ruin, our Conference and I continually called for Legislative Leaders’ meetings from July onward so we could tackle the budget deficit. We also outlined over $3 billion in specific solutions to close the budget gap back on October 13. If our ideas had been acted upon, we would be far closer to solving the state’s budget deficit than we are now, a full several weeks into this process, which is nowhere. Is it any wonder why New Yorkers have lost faith in state government?”