O’Mara on late state budget: ‘Most bloated and wasteful government budget in America’

Albany, N.Y., April 22—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R-C, Big Flats), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, today called the final 2024-2025 New York State budget enacted by Governor Kathy Hochul and the Legislature’s Democrat supermajorities “the most bloated and wasteful government budget in America.”

O’Mara, the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, noted that Hochul and the Democrat-led supermajorities of the state Legislature are increasing spending by at least $8 billion over last year and have adopted a record-setting, $237-billion-plus spending plan -- including an additional $2.4 billion to provide programs and services to an ever-increasing surge of illegal migrants coming into New York.

O’Mara said, “New York State taxpayers today and long into the future already face trying to afford, and live, and work under the most bloated and wasteful government budget in America. New York is already one of the highest taxed, heavily mandated, overregulated, and least affordable states in the nation. This budget makes it worse. It increases spending and handouts by at least eight billion dollars but fails to address any meaningful tax relief, mandate relief, debt relief, or fundamental priorities in education, health care, local roads and bridges, and so many other areas. In fact, it ignores the economic and fiscal warnings on the horizon and keeps on increasing government spending like there’s no tomorrow. To afford it, Governor Hochul and the Democrat majorities in the Legislature will go on squeezing every penny they possibly can from state and local taxpayers through higher taxes, passing the buck to localities, ignoring badly needed priorities, more borrowing, raiding reserve funds, increasing fees, and every other anti-taxpayer, anti-business, anti-economic opportunity, anti-economic growth, anti-freedom action contained in this new budget and that will be the cornerstone of every future state budget for as long as New York remains under one-party, all-Democrat control. We will remain the nation’s leader in irresponsible, irrational, misguided, and unsustainable spending that will overburden and make this state unlivable for taxpayers, families, workers, small businesses, manufacturers, farmers, and every segment of our local communities and economies.”