De Blasio To Fight State Budget Cuts 'By Any Means Necessary'

Mayor de Blasio struck a combative tone Thursday one day after Governor Andrew Cuomo presented his proposed budget.

It was a stark shift from the mayor’s initial response after the speech on Wednesday when he largely side-stepped questions about budget cuts and emphasized the state’s proposed new investment in areas like affordable housing and homelessness, both central to his own agenda.

Speaking at a high school in Queens Thursday morning, the mayor stressed his main concerns are proposed cuts to the City University of New York and increased Medicaid costs that he warned could balloon to one billion dollars by 2020.

“We will fight these cuts,” said de Blasio pledging to seek help from both chambers of the state legislature. He added, “[The cuts] are unprecedented and they are unfair to our city.”

At the same time, he reiterated his praise for Cuomo's push to raise minimum wage, paid family leave and invest new money for homelessness and affordable housing. Still de Blasio pledged a battle for the city's bottomline 

“There's a phrase in American history, ‘by any means necessary’,” said de Blasio, “I would invoke that phrase.”

Governor Cuomo called in to NY1 Thursday afternoon where he dubbed the proposed cuts as “policy issues” and said he wanted to work with the city to bring down the growth of Medicaid. He said, “It won’t cost New York City a penny.”

He also talked about reducing the cost of “bureaucracy” at CUNY.

The mayor’s office issued a statement shortly after Cuomo’s comments describing them as an "update" from the governor.

“Both the City and the State have a long-term interest in strengthening the financial status, and preserving the quality, of our public higher education and our Medicaid systems,” de Blasio’s statement read, adding “We look forward to a coordinated effort.”