Democratic lawmakers were forced to make bitter compromises with Ms. Hochul, alienating some of the party’s vociferous left wing. Many spoke out strongly not only against the bail changes and the NFL subsidy, but also the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from certain state programs and what they saw as too modest pay increases for home health workers.
The emerging budget deal led many left-wing Democrats to draw parallels between Ms. Hochul and Mr. Cuomo, with Michael Gianaris, the deputy majority leader in the Senate, and compared them “in terms of paying attention to corporate interests and its ideological positioning. †
The Legislative Democrats nevertheless set their own policy priorities, pushing Ms. Hochul to the left on some points and convincing her to spend $4 billion more than she initially proposed. And the budget deal was both a fiscal plan and a political document, filled with potentially voter-friendly measures that Ms. Hochul, as well as many Democratic lawmakers, will stand behind on the campaign trail.
Bruce Gyory, a Democratic political adviser, said that despite the criticism, the budget contained a balance of policies that could help Democrats across the state in November, and said Ms. Hochul “adjusted what might be called a vital downtown strategy.” .”
“There is always going to be a rugby scrum in the budget,” he said. “But once the budget is approved, everyone who voted for it will join the parade to get the message across that it was a good budget.”
Lawmakers voted on the budget Friday, but under the deal, the state will make a series of targeted changes and extensions to existing bail laws and impose stricter rules on repeat offenders. Despite Ms Hochul’s insistence, it will not create a new standard by which judges can assess the danger a defendant poses to others in setting bail.
State Senator Diane J. Savino, a moderate Democrat from Staten Island, said Senate Democrats eventually agreed to changes because of the number of lawmakers, especially state and suburban members, who felt “pressure” from their voters.
