Tenney Votes for $4.1 Trillion House Budget, Brindisi Takes Issue

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed their $4.1 trillion budget which they hope will kickstart progress on Republican's plan for major tax overhaul later this year. The vote narrowly passed (219-206) after more than a dozen Republicans broke ranks and voted against the budget with Democrats.

Local Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22 Republican) voted in favor of the resolution.

"The passage of today’s (Thursday) budget is a step in the right direction toward paying down our $20 trillion national debt, cutting wasteful out-of-control Washington spending, growing our economy and putting the taxpayers first," Tenney said on her Facebook page.  "Additionally, our budget prioritizes and addresses the stability of Medicare and Medicaid. Medicaid was on an unsustainable path that was only further exacerbated by the passage of Obamacare," she added.

Tenney's opponent and current NYS Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi of Utica disagrees.  In statement released by his campaign on Friday, Brindisi said the budget proposal puts "tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires over the needs of seniors across New York."  Brindisi's campaign manager went further.

“Claudia Tenney and her party bosses in Washington are financing tax cuts for Wall Street billionaires and wealthy campaign donors on the backs of middle-class seniors from Upstate New York, and they should be ashamed of themselves,” Brindisi's campaign manager Ellen Foster said.  “Furthermore, this budget cuts Medicare by $500 billion and Medicaid by $1 trillion. It’s clear that Ms. Tenney doesn’t work for the people of Upstate New York, she really works for her Wall Street donors and multinational corporations that ship our jobs overseas,” Foster added.

Tenney claims the new budget proposal will actually balance the budget. "The budget will save the taxpayers $203 billion, while paving the way for comprehensive pro-growth tax reform. Within the next ten years, our budget will balance and our deficit will be reduced by $6.5 trillion," she said on her Facebook page.

Tenney broke ranks with other upstate Republicans such as Congressmen Katko and King who voted against this Budget Resolution. Brindisi's campaign added, "It’s plain as day that Ms. Tenney is even out of step with other Republicans from New York."

Republicans who control both houses of government are considering the use of reconciliation once again, according to insiders, in order to pass their sweeping tax reform bill. Under reconciliation, a simple majority of 51 votes in the Senate would send the bill to the President's desk for signage into law, instead of the usual 60-vote requirement.

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