New York state budget snags linger

[TexasTowelie]

Albany -- Assemblyman John McDonald noticed "the budget stench" Friday when the Cohoes Democrat arrived at the state Capitol. The smell of unwashed suits, unshowered people, half-eaten pizzas and soggy Chinese food had begun to fill the hallways.

But one scent that didn't permeate the air: That of freshly printed budget bills.

With the midnight deadline to approve a new state budget before the beginning of the new fiscal year rapidly approaching, the state Assembly and Senate pressed on late into the night, even if they did not have bill language to digest or the ability to quickly vote on a $150 billion-plus spending plan for the new fiscal year.

Shortly after 11 p.m., Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan put his thumb and forefinger millimeters apart and said "we're this close." Late numbers coming out included at least $2 billion for water infrastructure, at least $1 billion more for education and setting up a $163 million college affordability plan.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Whipsawing-in-Capitol-as-new-budget-awaited-11042601.php

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R. That's been the top news around here - whether they'll meet the budget deadline

That, and the return of winter weather. It's snowed here (again!) twice in the past 24 hours and we heard there were closings for Saturday because it's even worse to the south.

[TexasTowelie]

2. I found the solution to budgeting.

When you have no money then you have nothing to budget for. Problem solved--sadfully.

You have my sympathy about the cold weather. It's 65 here and I'm in my shorts.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Well, this is the state budget. They have a lot more money than any of us.

But it looks like the nasty partisanship that's affected national politics has spread to Albany, too. The latest fight involves the GOP bribing upstate reps with a deal that would allow them to lower property taxes.

Upstate New York gets $2.3 billion gift in Republican health care bill
http://www.democraticunderground.com/106822962

The House Republicans' health care bill now provides an unusual sweetheart deal for upstate New York and Long Island.

In an effort to woo Republican lawmakers in the state, House leaders have agreed to an amendment that would block the federal government from reimbursing state Medicaid funds raised by local governments. The provision is worded so that it only applies to New York State.

In New York, counties outside of New York City send $2.3 billion to the state to help pay for Medicaid. Upstate officials cheered the GOP's measure, saying it would allow them to lower county property taxes for their residents. Medicaid spending accounts for an average of 44.3% of the county property tax levied in New York, state lawmakers argue.

Governor Cuomo is fighting back:

But state officials and hospital executives say it would blow a huge hole in the state's Medicaid budget and leave many New Yorkers without coverage.

"There is no fairy that is going to float down and hand over $2.3 billion to make up the shortfall that the counties lack," said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in a press conference Tuesday. "...that means less people are going to get health care assistance. That means more hospitals, more nursing homes are going to close. That's what that means."

[Rhiannon12866]

4. And I was supposed to go to Albany yesterday for the completion of my root canal

But I called the day before to reschedule when they warned about the storm. Same thing happened two weeks ago when we had that storm that closed down most of the state. I know I'm just postponing the inevitable, but I was relieved to put it off. So much for Spring in the North Country.

[TexasTowelie]

5. I'll never have to worry about that again.

I went to dentures between 4.5 and 5 years ago after everything collapsed within about an eight month timespan. I spent a fortune on my teeth while I had them. My last dentist was the official dentist for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders so I got the perk of having a few photos signed by a couple of the cheerleaders.

[Rhiannon12866]

6. They couldn't give you implants or a bridge?

I put off going to the dentist and ended up with two abscessed teeth in the course of a year. I had dental surgery to remove the first one on election day - and that didn't turn out to be the worst thing that happened that day. I voted with half of my face still numb, then woke up in front of the TV at 3am to see this orange freak declaring victory and knew I was having a nightmare! I need the root canal for the tooth next to it, to attach a permanent tooth to, to fill in the space.

And you'd think any dentist associated with football would have more experience and expertise than anyone!

[TexasTowelie]

7. I was having dental incidents (root canals, decayed fillings, second crowns) about once a month

over about a five year period. The dentist was sick of seeing me. I was down to only five teeth in my upper jaw and it was obvious that those were rotting so I bit the bullet and had them removed. I had 11 teeth extracted from my lower jaw about 4 months later. If I were to win the lottery then I would get implants which would cost about $30,000. The dentures cost about $4,000 and the two surgeries were about $5,000 more which ate up most of my severance money. The COBRA insurance that I had before the teeth deteriorated took another huge chunk. I was a victim of bad timing since the middle of 2011.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Ouch! I am so sorry!

I'm fortunate that I've had few dental problems - before now. I lost my dental insurance and so I kept putting off going back to the dentist. I had a tooth extracted from the other side and still have a space there, but it's been long enough that I'm used to it. Fortunately, they're both in the back.

And I can sure sympathize. The abscessed tooth I had last year was as painful as anything I've experienced. And I was reluctant to go back to the dentist, but it happened more than once, so I finally forced myself to get it taken care of. It's a trip to see my dentist, but she knows or knew my whole family and I trust her which is important.

She's also "one of us." I seem to have dental appointments on the worst days ever. I was there for X-Rays on 9/11. It seemed like I was sitting there forever, watching the TV she had tuned to CNN - and seeing that second plane hitting the WTC over and over. I was scared witless when I finally stumbled out of there. I'd always voted, but that's when I decided I'd better learn more about what was really going on in this country - and the rest of the world. And in that journey, I eventually found DU.

I mentioned my experience once here and another poster asked me if I'd ever told my dentist. So I took her advice and shared that with her and learned she feels pretty much the same way we do here. When I was going there during the campaign, we had the TV tuned to MSNBC and when I could talk, LOL, I kept up a discussion with my dentist and her like-minded 22-year-old assistant.

[TexasTowelie]

9. You're lucky.

My dentist and his staff were Republicans and most of the people I worked with at the insurance company and also the state insurance agency were Republicans. Where I made my mark was that I could process and analyze extremely huge amounts of data almost instantaneously so they were willing to put with the fact that I was a liberal.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. I also live in a Republican area.

New York may be a "blue state," but that's the more populated areas downstate. The cities tend to be Democratic, but it's a pretty rural state and those areas vote R. We had a Republican congressman for as long as I can remember until Kirsten Gillibrand won in 2006. There were elections when the Democrats didn't even bother to run a candidate. President Clinton came here to campaign for her. I must have mentioned that before. It was quite exciting to actually see him in person!

And aren't parts of Texas liberal, too? I know we have quite a few Texans on DU. And even though my district may have reverted to Republican representation, I don't know anyone who can stand the current Rep, let alone Trump. There's yet another protest scheduled next week to organize against her. She not only refuses to hold town halls, but she won't make her schedule public until after the fact, in case her angry constituents might show up...

[TexasTowelie]

11. The larger cities have some liberal districts.

I would personally like to move to Georgetown where I went to college. It won't be the same since the town grew from 9,000 to 60,000 over the years. It is still in a Republican area, but there are enough liberals that I would have a community of friends along with a lot of social activities. In addition they are finally adding public transportation in the city with four bus routes. Jimmy Carter delivered the commencement address at Southwestern somewhere between 15-20 years ago and drew a crowd of about 5,000 but I didn't attend because of work obligations.

If Georgetown isn't possible then Austin or Dallas would be my preferred options. The social life would be better in Austin because most of the fellow alumni from Southwestern that live in Austin are liberal, but the cost of living is pretty high (at least by Texas standards). Unfortunately they have gerrymandered Austin into five different Congressional districts and the only Democratic representative is Lloyd Doggett. The Republicans have tried to get rid of Doggett for years, but he is extremely popular even though he is in one of the "fajita-strip" districts that extend from Austin down to the Rio Grande Valley.