Cuomo Wants Additional Time Ahead Of March 31 Budget Deadline For Negotiation Process

Nothing understated or subtle about this announcement:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office Monday afternoon officially confirmed the State of the State address and 2015-16 budget presentation will be conflated into the “Opportunity Agenda.”

The reason why this Voltron of policy, rhetoric and PowerPoint is being created is in order to give both the governor and the Legislature “additional time ahead of the March 31st deadline.”

The presentation will be held on Jan. 21 at 1:30 at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany.

The takeaway for me from that announcement?

He wants “additional time ahead of the March 31st deadline.”

The budget was supposed to come on January 26.

That Cuomo has decided instead to do it on the same day as the re-scheduled State of the State speech tells me he

a) wants a big presentation to try and make this seem bigger than it is (thus the name "Opportunity Agenda," which frankly sounds like bullshit, but whatever...) and

b) expects this negotiation process to be a bit contentious (since he says he thinks a few extra days to bash things out will be necessary.)