Monday, April 10, 2017

Governor Cuomo: We’ve Embraced the Politics of Unity


Today, the New York Daily News published an op-ed by Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on the importance of the FY 2018 State Budget and continuing New York’s record of fiscal responsibility. More information on the budget agreement is available here

We’ve embraced the politics of unity

These have been trying times for our state and nation. One of the lessons that could be taken from the 2016 election is that our values are all being questioned, blamed and attacked. In recent months, we’ve seen a surge in bias-motivated threats, harassment and acts of violence.

We heard the argument that the success of the middle class is being directly impeded by our policies of diversity and inclusion. We have seen the federal government attempt and fail to take a wrecking ball to our health care system, and attempt and fail to create a religious test for immigration. Soon, Congress will start scrambling to cut taxes for the few at the expense of everyone else.

In New York, we say no. We have rejected the politics of division and are forging our own path. With our agreement on a $153 billion budget for 2017, New York State has issued a bold and optimistic statement of our values. We are saying without equivocation: New York is moving forward. This budget agreement invests in our middle class, cuts taxes for working families, strengthens our economy and expands opportunity for all. And it does so even while keeping the rate of spending at an all-time low — held to 2% for the past seven years.

In a response to the most intense period of domestic turbulence in half a century, and with the middle class feeling increasingly ignored and frustrated, our budget makes clear that progressive beliefs, far from being impediments to the middle class, are in fact the foundation upon which the middle class was built in the first place, and on which it will grow stronger. 

Click here for the full commentary.   

Source: Press Office, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

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