Citizen Action Policy Director Bob Cohen speaks at press conference announcing the new GrowningTogetherNY budget coalition.
Yesterday, Citizen Action of New York joined organizations from across the state at a gathering of the new GrowingTogetherNY budget coalition. This group of faith, human services, labor, and community-based organizations has come together to call on the Governor and the State Legislature to enact a state budget that builds our communities, creates jobs, and puts the needs of New York’s working families before the needs of corporate CEOs, Wall Street bankers, and their lobbyists.
GrowingTogetherNY firmly believes that the cuts-only approach advanced by Governor Cuomo will further hinder the growth of New York´s communities and hurt those families who have already been hit hardest by the economic crisis. Giving a multi-billion dollar tax cut to the richest New Yorkers, when the state is facing a $10 billion deficit, is simply irresponsible.
At today´s press conference, the GrowingTogetherNY coalition came together to launch this campaign. Reverend Jim Reisner from Westminster Presbyterian, which hosts a daily soup kitchen just a block from the Capitol, referred to budgets as “moral documents” that “reflect the values and priorities of a family, church, organization, city, state or nation.” He went on to say that “our political leadership´s tax cut mentality ignores the least of these – leaving them with crumbs for the feast of the comfortable.”
Frank Mauro, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, said that the governors proposed budget “relies excessively on spending cuts, which would increase unemployment and intensify hardships for those bearing the brunt of the recession.”
Ron Deutsch, Executive Director for New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, added “we want to work with this Governor to get a result that is good for all of the residents of this state.”
The main goal of the coalition is to fix this “first draft” of the budget, as NYSUT Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta called it, so that the “final paper” meets the needs of New Yorkers, while ensuring that the notion of shared sacrifice applies to all.
Below is a video of some of the speakers, and a slideshow of photos from the event.