As Governor Hochul and legislative leaders belatedly released details of their agreement on a state budget for fiscal year 2026, the Empire Center released a statement from its Senior Fellow for Health Policy, Bill Hammond:

“The state budget finally heading to approval in Albany was definitely not worth the wait. It calls for a spending increases that would have been unsustainable even in rosier times. Given the current reality – with obvious threats to federal funding, Wall Street and the broader economy – the plan from Governor Hochul and the Legislature is nothing less than reckless.

“The governor initially proposed the biggest state-funded spending increase since the 1980s, and the final budget will add substantially to that. Most of the new money is flowing to the state share of Medicaid, which is growing by more than 17 percent even though enrollment is down.

“One of the few bright notes is an agreement to pay off a $7 billion debt in the state’s unemployment fund, saving employers from a hangover of the pandemic that never should have been laid on their shoulders.

“Already, the governor and Legislature are warning that they might have to cut the budget later this year – a confession that what they have now is neither prudent nor truly balanced.

“Contrary to their rhetoric about affordability, the governor and Legislature are compounding the already excessive burden on the state’s taxpayers and economy and worsening the long-term decline of the Empire State.”