Cuomo cuts $44M in potential pork from budget
ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo put the kibosh late Friday night on a legislative addition to the budget that could potentially give lawmakers $44 million in capital spending to dole out.
In a veto message, Cuomo said that leaving that additional funding in the enacted budget will hurt the state's ability "to maintain a properly balanced budget." The rest of the 123 line item vetoes that the governor made to the state's $175 billion spending plan was for technical reasons.
While traditional legislative member items were phased out with fanfare early in the Cuomo administration, the budget regularly includes pots of money that lawmakers are able to distribute to pet projects in their districts with the approval of the budget division.
It's possible that the Legislature could revisit this funding allocation to the state's capital assistance program before the session ends in June, as the governor says there is unfinished business with the state's capital spending plans.
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