New House stimulus bill would give Cuomo what he wants

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives firmly in his corner when it comes to getting a new $3 trillion federal stimulus bill through Congress. New York would stand to gain tens of billions of dollars if it passed. The governor would gain the ability to make his desired changes to the state’s Medicaid system.

The bill would even repeal the limits that the 2017 GOP tax law imposed on state and local tax deductions, which Cuomo once described as an “economic missile” hitting New York. “I applaud them for putting that in,” Cuomo told reporters on Wednesday. “They have to make sure it’s in the final bill.”

House Democrats are aiming to pass the bill on Friday, but Republicans are calling it “dead on arrival” in the Senate. That could be a negotiating tactic to wrangle certain concessions from Democrats, but it also suggests that New York City and state will remain in a state of limbo as the economic toll of the pandemic mounts.

With the pandemic ravaging the U.S. economy, a bipartisan group of governors, federal lawmakers and local officials is seeking to avoid a political fight over such proposals. House Democrats are now trying to channel that consensus building into their own efforts to define the nascent economic recovery.

“We must think big for the people now, because if we don’t, it will cost more in lives and livelihood later,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a Tuesday afternoon press conference on Capitol Hill. “Not acting is the most expensive course.”

Federal funding will determine everything from when the state Legislature meets to just how deeply the state has to cut funding for public schools, health care and aid to localities in order to balance its books. The U.S. unemployment rate is now 14.7% and the possibility of a second round of stimulus checks could be critical to whether people will be able to meet their financial obligations in the coming weeks.

“As Congress reconvenes, delivering urgent state fiscal relief must be a top priority,” read a joint statement from Cuomo and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Wednesday morning. “Each day that Congress fails to act, states are being forced to make cuts that will devastate the essential services the American people rely on and destroy the economic recovery before it even gets off the ground.”

While Cuomo has chafed at previous stimulus bills, powerful members of the state’s congressional delegations – House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler and Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velázquez – are sponsoring a bill that is much more to his liking. President Donald Trump, however, has yet to make good on a promise to the governor to support more funding for states in future legislation.

Both the president and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have said they are in no hurry to pass another stimulus bill, especially one that includes more funding for voting by mail or allowing more undocumented immigrants to stay in the country. Any deal would almost certainly include compromising on many of the Democrats’ proposals – but that might be the whole point.

By including liberal proposals in the 1,815-page bill, Pelosi gives many of her members a political win while also positioning the Democrats as the party of action. Whatever the merits of Republicans’ objections to the bill, their desire to slow down the negotiations allows Democrats to make a potentially useful political point as the state and nation prepare for tough times ahead.

“The Washington bill should finally provide a real economic stimulus that helps this nation rebuild,” Cuomo said Wednesday. “The only thing that matters is what’s in the final bill.”