News

NEW YORK, NY April 09, 2008 —Nine days past the budget deadline, state lawmakers passed spending bills on a budget agreement that increases spending, despite what Gov. David Paterson has deemed an economic recession. The budget is similar to the proposal put forward by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer before he resigned.

Paterson concedes the budget process was not as transparent, or as fiscally prudent, as he would have liked...but says changing the course of Albany will take time. WNYC’s All Things Considered host Amy Eddings talks with Paul Francis, director of state operations and former budget director, about why Paterson did not cut spending more deeply.