Pataki Offers to Restore Billions to Budget
New York, NY —
Faced with the threat of vetoes and a possible court showdown Governor Pataki is offering to restore some of the nearly $3 billion in spending he cut from the state budget. Those restorations add up to less than half of what Pataki slahed but he remains optimistic that the legislature will agree to talk.
PATAKI: Let's negotiate a middle ground that would restore some healthcare, higher education, allow property tax relief, but in a way that limits the ability of school districts to undo that property tax relief and in the end let's leave our state in a better financial picture.
REPORTER: Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno says budget negotiations are going nowhere, and accused the governor of negotiating in bad faith.
BRUNO: We think we are getting somewhere and then they move the numbers you cant negotiate when people dont have act together iIhave not seen any response that they want to get a result.
REPORTER: The legislature has threatened to override Pataki's cuts with vetoes. And Bruno says Pataki will not be able to threaten any of his members into defecting on the overrides.
