Standoff Between Cuomo And The Legislature

Michael Gormley in Newsday says the governor and the legislature are in a standoff over the governors poison pill 30 day budget amendments that impose policy via the budget.

The takeaway is this - despite an earlier report by Gormley to the contrary, the Assembly has not formally introduced the governor's proposals.

Neither has the Senate.

Gormely reports:

 That could keep them out of the final budget.

"Someone will have to blink," said E.J. McMahon, president of the independent Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank.

The closed-door fight could turn into another court battle, said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. "The legislature has drawn a line in the sand and they say the governor has gone over it," he said. "If they knuckle under for the 30-day amendments, they are going to face this problem every year."

The legislature must not cave to Cuomo.

We cannot have a state of affairs where the governor gets to put whatever he wants into the budget despite opposition.

Horner is right - if the legislature caves here, this governor and future governors will pull this every year to the end of eternity.