New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday that he would have to implement major cuts to the state budget because of the lack of aid from Congress.
“We have no state revenues to speak of. We’re going to have to dramatically cut our state expenses. You can’t spend that which you don’t have,” Cuomo said in a press conference.
New York, the state hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak with about 44,600 people testing positive for the virus, has lost $ 10 billion to $ 15 billion in revenue, Cuomo said. The massive $ 2.2 trillion stimulus package likely to arrive on President Trump’s desk this weekend does not allocate enough funding to the state to make up for the losses, he said.
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“The federal government only gave us $ 5 billion, and that’s only for coronavirus expenses,” Cuomo said. “We have a $ 10-15 billion hole. The federal government gave us zero, nada, niente, zilch.”
He added that the state will likely have to cut education aid, its largest expense. In fact, Chalkbeat reported that New York City spends $ 28,808 per student on average every year. The federal government, Cuomo said, has not stepped in to help bolster education funding.
New York state schools have already shut down and were scheduled to open Wednesday. Cuomo extended that timeline further Friday, announcing they would remain closed until April 15 at the earliest, as the outbreak has not improved much since he made the initial announcement earlier this month that schools would be temporarily shuttered. He also waived the requirement that schools teach 180 days out of the year.