NEW YORK, NY October 27, 2009 —Schools advocates, union members and others are speaking out against Governor Paterson's proposed budget cuts. They showed up at a Senate hearing on the matter yesterday.

James Parrott, an economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute, says the state should hold off on making drastic cuts.

PARROTT: I think there's time given that the state's fiscal year ends at the end of March, to see what's going to happen with Wall Street profits in the 4th quarter, what's going to happen to Wall Street bonuses, and what will the tax revenues associated with that will be.

REPORTER: Parrott also rejected the notion that higher taxes would drive wealthy residents out of the state, saying there was no evidence of that yet. The governor has said that without making substantial budget cuts the state's credit rating will be threatened, and that its costs would spike.