Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Bruno and Butting Heads???
Newsday DAN JANISON
While Bruno is saying "patients first"...he is really thinking "unions first"..in that last special election...all the health unions backed Bruno and the Republicans...gee...I wonder why??? andy
Butting heads over budget
ALBANY - Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno yesterday warned Gov. Eliot Spitzer against pushing a confrontation with lawmakers in his first try at a budget - and signaled resistance to Spitzer's proposed health care cuts. "My concern is that we're going to get into a confrontation because this governor is feeling very strong-willed. He has 75 percent approval. He walks on water, according to some people," Bruno said before a meeting of the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials here. "We usually get things done by consensus. "In his speech to the group, Bruno said, "We've got to make sure that people who need health care get it. We've got to be sure of that - patients first. "Proposed Medicaid cuts totaling $1.3 billion have provoked protests from hospitals and labor leaders. Last week, Spitzer reacted sharply to televised ads portraying his plan as a boon to HMOs and destructive to patients, and cited the fat salaries paid to some hospital executives. And last night, after addressing the same group, Spitzer resumed that criticism, saying: "There will no longer be the backroom deals that led to billions and billions of dollars being funneled to the institutions that did not show any cost controls. Game over. "Both the Senate and the Assembly are predicting revenue forecasts higher than those in Spitzer's plan. In its estimate, published yesterday, the Assembly Ways and Means Committee said additional revenues will total $834 million, in a spending plan of about $120 billion. Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said yesterday that fiscal officials will meet today to update the revenue estimates. "We will work with the legislature to reach consensus on a revenue forecast," she said. "We think the budget we've laid out is the right budget, and we clearly plan to work to pass that budget."
While Bruno is saying "patients first"...he is really thinking "unions first"..in that last special election...all the health unions backed Bruno and the Republicans...gee...I wonder why??? andy
Butting heads over budget
ALBANY - Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno yesterday warned Gov. Eliot Spitzer against pushing a confrontation with lawmakers in his first try at a budget - and signaled resistance to Spitzer's proposed health care cuts. "My concern is that we're going to get into a confrontation because this governor is feeling very strong-willed. He has 75 percent approval. He walks on water, according to some people," Bruno said before a meeting of the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials here. "We usually get things done by consensus. "In his speech to the group, Bruno said, "We've got to make sure that people who need health care get it. We've got to be sure of that - patients first. "Proposed Medicaid cuts totaling $1.3 billion have provoked protests from hospitals and labor leaders. Last week, Spitzer reacted sharply to televised ads portraying his plan as a boon to HMOs and destructive to patients, and cited the fat salaries paid to some hospital executives. And last night, after addressing the same group, Spitzer resumed that criticism, saying: "There will no longer be the backroom deals that led to billions and billions of dollars being funneled to the institutions that did not show any cost controls. Game over. "Both the Senate and the Assembly are predicting revenue forecasts higher than those in Spitzer's plan. In its estimate, published yesterday, the Assembly Ways and Means Committee said additional revenues will total $834 million, in a spending plan of about $120 billion. Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said yesterday that fiscal officials will meet today to update the revenue estimates. "We will work with the legislature to reach consensus on a revenue forecast," she said. "We think the budget we've laid out is the right budget, and we clearly plan to work to pass that budget."
