New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced billions in new spending for a ‘free’ childcare program, while flanked by newly sworn-in New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
What could possibly go wrong?
They’re only doing this as the state of Minnesota is imploding under the weight of a massive fraud scandal involving daycare centers. Talk about having no sense of timing.
ABC News reported:
Hochul and Mamdani to unveil free child care plan in New York CityNew York City parents may soon have access to free child care for their 2-year-olds, under a plan set to be unveiled Thursday by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.The two Democrats are expected to detail the program at a news conference Thursday morning, along with a pledge from Hochul to pursue a wider, statewide free child care initiative.“There’s one thing that every family in New York can agree on, the cost of childcare is simply too high,” Hochul said in a statement. “As New York’s first mom Governor, fighting for New York’s families has always been at the core of my agenda.”For Mamdani, the announcement is the first step in fulfilling one of his trademark campaign promises, marking a major boon for the mayor just days after he took office with the promise of implementing a transformative agenda focused on making the city a more affordable place to live.“This victory represents much more than a triumph of city and state government working in partnership — it is proof that when New Yorkers come together, we can transform the way government serves working families,” he said in a statement.
See their announcement below:
In Hochul’s defense, she doesn’t have much of a choice here. Her fate is tied to Mamdani in party and state, and he was going to push for this with or without her support.
The New York Post has more:
Hochul stressed the funding will come from “existing” state revenues, rather than new taxes. She later told PIX11 that tax revenue from Wall Street bonuses, which proved to be quite healthy, would be used to cover the tab.The governor also flatly said that taxing the rich – as Mamdani and his Democratic Socialists of America allies have clamored for – was off the table.“Because I don’t think it makes sense to tax anyone or the wealthy in particular for just the sake of raising taxes,” she said.“If I’m telling you the money is there, that’s the story.”Hochul made a show of emphasizing she was committing full funding for the next two years — but the pledge itself could ultimately lead to future new taxes beyond that time frame.“What that potentially does is create a fiscal and programmatic cliff that risks the budget in the future and risks the program serving New Yorkers in the future,” warned Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission.
They had better know that this will be watched closely.
Featured image via Twitter/X video.
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