Trump’s Budget Would Devastate New York, Cuomo Says

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget would hit New York by cutting tens of billions of dollars from healthcare, college scholarships, aid to the poor and environmental protection, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

Healthcare funding in New York would be cut $4.3 billion next year, accumulating to about $65 billion through 2026, according to the governor’s budget division. A 20 percent reduction to Medicaid and other health services would jeopardize public hospitals and deprive hundreds of thousands of medical care, the governor said. Another $220 billion cut nationally over the next 10 years would make it more difficult for 2.7 million New Yorkers to obtain food stamps.

Trump’s budget proposal is unlikely to advance in Congress, with Democrats in control of the House of Representatives, though it lays out the priorities of the president who will face re-election next year.

The budget would not finance any of the $12.7 billion Gateway Tunnel Project, a crucial link for rail service between Washington D.C. and Boston that’s in severe need of repair. It also eliminates federal support for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s planned East Harlem extension of Manhattan’s Second Avenue Subway and a light-rail system planned for Buffalo.

The president’s request for $62 billion in discretionary education funding amounts to a 12 percent decrease from 2019, which would eliminate some enrichment programs in high-poverty neighborhoods and Pell Grant college scholarships, Cuomo said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henry Goldman in New York at hgoldman@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, William Selway, Michael B. Marois

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