Government Spending

Gregory Lyakhov | 5.9.2025 12:15 PM

On Thursday night, New York lawmakers approved a $254 billion spending plan—the largest in the state's history and up from the $229 billion budget of just one year ago. The over 10 percent increase pushes spending beyond both inflation and the overall growth of the economy, even as families and small businesses struggle to keep up with rising costs.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the budget over a month past the April 1 deadline. Lawmakers spent over three weeks locked in debate—not over how to save more but how to spend more. Public schools, transit systems, and entitlement programs all received major boosts, mostly without meaningful reform or any evaluation of outcomes.

The budget uses emergency reserves, meant for economic downturns, to pay off a $7 billion unemployment insurance debt. That debt originated during forced business closures in 2020 and 2021. Rather........

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