Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)
CORNING – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) is calling out Governor Andrew Cuomo for what he calls “reckless government spending.”
Citing a recent decision to spend $16 million for a rest stop near Adirondack Park initially budgeted for $2 million, Reed on Wednesday said the project shows it’s reckless and wasteful spending that’s forcing people and businesses to leave New York and not the weather.
Reed was referencing a comment the governor made last week in which he said the main reason for the state’s stagnant population with a decline in upstate was due to the weather.
“I can assure the governor that myself and people of my generation as well as the present generation and generations yet to come are not leaving New York State because of its weather. They’re leaving New York State because of the tax-and-spend extreme liberal agenda that the governor has embraced and my opponent – Tracy Mitrano – has embraced in her campaign for congress,” Reed said during a conference call with the media on Wednesday.
It’s worth noting that Reed’s 2018 opponent – Tracy Mitrano – does not currently, nor has she ever held an elected position in any office, including Albany. Following Reed’s criticism of the Governor and effort to also associate that criticism with Mitrano, WRFA asked him if he could point to anything that illustrates what he considers her support of an extreme tax-and-spend agenda.
“I think the biggest concern is her support for Medicare-for-All – the complete government control of healthcare under that proposal,” Reed replied. “Medicare-for-All has a $32 Trillion price tag, plus it would be a budgetary impact in New York State. Our entire state budget would have to essentially increase by 100 percent. That type of unleashing of spending would lead to drastic tax increases across all spectrums, which would further decimate us in the Upstate New York area.”
(According to an independent study by left-leaning Urban Institute, the estimated cost of Medicare-for-All is $32 trillion over 10 years)
Reed is referencing Mitrano’s campaign stance that she supports Universal Health Care through a single-payer system. She’s also said that single-payer health care run by the government does not mean socialized medicine.
“The government doesn’t employ the providers … in fact, we already have the VA, Medicare,” she said during a recent campaign stop in Olean. “I can ask a group of people if they want ‘single payer’ and they’ll say no … but when I ask if they think everyone should have affordable and equal access to health care, they’ll say ‘yes.'”
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