Mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie is floating a plan to push again in opposition to the Trump administration’s threats of withholding federal funds for New York Metropolis, because the president poses an more and more looming presence over the mayoral race.
Myrie, a state senator representing components of Brooklyn, is proposing hiring 50 metropolis attorneys to arrange a line of protection in opposition to Trump’s agenda and is speaking a couple of “nuclear option” of withholding state and native tax funds to the federal authorities if the president revokes metropolis funds in defiance of court docket orders.
“No amount of capitulation will satisfy Donald Trump and his cronies. Playing nice will get us nowhere—it’s time for New Yorkers to remind this country what we’re made of,” Myrie mentioned. “The City will not comply with any illegal and coercive policy demands from the federal government. If they withhold funds, we will sue in the courts and win.
“If they ignore the courts, we will withhold our tax dollars from the federal government, and we will march in the streets.
“The President is not a king, and New York City is not his subject.”
Myrie’s blueprint comes because the president has threatened to drag funding over town’s stances on the MTA, faculties and migrant companies, amongst others.
His marketing campaign was unable to supply a price for the extra attorneys or a particular funding supply, saying simply that the cash can be carved out of town’s finances. In line with the employment website Glassdoor, a lawyer within the metropolis’s legislation division earns a median wage of $121,000. Hiring 50 attorneys at that charge might add as much as roughly $6 million a 12 months.
Myrie, a lawyer, mentioned that Trump’s threats of withholding federal funds as punishment for town bucking sure directives quantities to coercion underneath the tenth Modification, which emphasizes that the federal authorities solely has the powers explicitly granted to it by the Structure.
If Trump does enact funding cuts in defiance of any court docket orders, Myrie proposed a “nuclear option” of withholding from the feds state and native tax funds from authorities workers. The candidate mentioned he would work with the state to carry again federal earnings tax funds to match any funds withheld by the administration, and the marketing campaign says particular person workers wouldn’t be on the hook with the IRS.
Myrie is one in every of ten candidates vying for the Democratic nomination. He’s polling constantly within the single digits, with a current ballot touchdown him at 2%.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who can be working for mayor, and Assemblymember Micah Lasher just lately proposed a invoice in Albany that might work alongside the identical traces. That invoice would set up a framework for the state comptroller, governor and finances director to vote on withholding from the federal authorities to match no matter they withhold from the state.
Myrie mentioned his blueprint dovetails along with his plan to construct and protect 1 million houses within the metropolis over the subsequent decade, since that effort would construct town’s tax base.
With town’s standing as a significant financial engine for the state and nation, President Trump’s hometown and a spot with progressive insurance policies, town presents a vibrant blue goal for the presidential administration. The problem of how to withstand Trump’s efforts to encroach on the governance of his dwelling metropolis, has change into central to the mayoral race.
Candidate and Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander has proposed bulking up town’s normal reserve by a minimum of $1 billion to guard from any cuts. And fellow challengers Zohran Mamdani and Adrienne Adams have additionally been outspoken in opposition to lots of Trump’s actions within the metropolis.
Others have been much less desperate to assault Trump. Mayor Adams has dedicated to not publicly criticizing the president, and whereas former governor Andrew Cuomo’s camp has slammed Adams as an “agent of Trump,” Cuomo himself has not often denounced the president.
