John J. Faso: “I thank the gentleman for his support. The fact of the matter is that New York has driven away so many people. In my…”

“I thank the gentleman for his support. The fact of the matter is that New York has driven away so many people. In my 19th Congressional District, every single county has lost population in the last 5 years. School district populations are down 30, 40 percent. Part of the reason is because of a lack of jobs and high property taxes. What we are simply saying is there should be accountability. When I ran for office last year, I promised the people of my district that I would introduce a measure, because then people would say: how can the Federal Government get involved in this question? The reason is because the Federal law authorized the States to impose part of their costs on the counties or on the local governments. The fact is that only New York State did it to the degree that New York did. That is why it is going to require us to amend the Federal legislation to preclude New York from doing this. We are giving Albany 2\1/2\ years to reform their program, to eliminate waste, and to make other priorities in its spending. There is no reason for cuts to hospitals or nursing homes, as Governor Cuomo has alleged falsely. What he needs to do is take full responsibility for this program, as most of the Governors in the 49 other States do, and then we will be able to relieve this burden on our local homeowners. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from New York (Ms.…”