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“No longer cut to the core, New York City emerges as a big winner in President Obama’s first budget,” Weiner said.
The plan provides funding for 50,000 new police officers across the country, including 3,500 that could be put on the streets of New York, Weiner said. The funds will be made available under the Community Oriented Policing Services program — COPS — which the congressman called one of his “signature issues.”
Former President George W. Bush’s budget plans had “zeroed out the cutting edge crime-fighting program for eight years,” Weiner added.
On taxes, the congressman said nearly two million middle-class families in New York City will enjoy tax cuts of $400 to $800; and a $2,500 tax credit for college tuition will be available.
And the state could receive anywhere from $45 billion to $75 billion in funding for Medicaid, Medicare and the healthcare industry in general, Weiner said, adding that details on healthcare spending have not yet been decided.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn, Queens) focused on individual projects and initiatives within her district that will be funded under the plan, including $123,000 to establish a Commission on the Future of the Latino Community in NYC, to promote economic development; $438,000 for the Women’s Health Services Initiative, to provide breast cancer screening and prenatal services in low-income communities; and $712,500 for the Safe Routes for Seniors and Kids program, designed to reduce the number of accidents involving pedestrians.
“Today we have taken the final steps needed to keep the federal government running and make investments in our communities,” Velazquez said in announcing House passage of those items. “These resources will help New York City’s hard-working families improve their lives and create a positive future for their children.”
Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens, the Bronx) agreed, saying, “President Obama is providing the leadership we need on the many challenges facing us, and I look forward to working closely with him in the year ahead to revitalize our nation’s economy and return our nation to an era of fiscal responsibility after eight long years without.”
