Gov. Andrew Cuomo is sharply critical of President Donald Trump's proposed budget. The $4.1 trillion spending plan calls for steep cuts in a range of support programs for low-income individuals to balance the federal government's books over the next decade.
While in Oswego County Wednesday, Cuomo called it an ultra-conservative version of President Ronald Reagan's economic approach to governing.
"This is the Niagara Falls of trickle down economics," Cuomo said. "It will be devastating to a state like New York. The rich get a tax cut. The little guy – no housing assistance, no healthcare, no food, have a nice day.”
Some Republican members of Congress from central New York are also concerned about the budget. Finger Lakes Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning) and Mohawk Valley Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-New Hartford) are praising Trump's fiscal reform efforts, but they say some of the cuts would be detrimental to the communities they represent.
Tenney put out a statement naming nine proposed funding cuts she would fight, including the community development block grants and a program that helps low-income families pay for home heating.
"A large number of my constituents depend on many of the programs the president wants to eliminate, and pulling the rug out from under them would be detrimental to our most vulnerable citizens,” Tenney said in a statement.
The president's proposed budget will be debated at least over the next few months in Congress.