Mayoral candidate Zellnor Myrie is floating a plan to push again towards 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 elements of Brooklyn, is proposing hiring 50 metropolis legal professionals to arrange a line of protection towards Trump’s agenda and is speaking a few “nuclear option” of withholding state and native tax funds to the federal authorities if the president revokes metropolis funds in defiance of courtroom 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 the town’s stances on the MTA, faculties and migrant providers, amongst others.
His marketing campaign was unable to supply a value for the extra legal professionals or a particular funding supply, saying simply that the cash can be carved out of the town’s funds. In response to the employment web site Glassdoor, a lawyer within the metropolis’s regulation division earns a median wage of $121,000. Hiring 50 legal professionals at that charge may 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 the 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 courtroom orders, Myrie proposed a “nuclear option” of withholding from the feds state and native tax funds from authorities staff. The candidate mentioned he would work with the state to carry again federal revenue tax funds to match any funds withheld by the administration, and the marketing campaign says particular person staff 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 latest ballot touchdown him at 2%.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who can be working for mayor, and Assemblymember Micah Lasher not too long ago proposed a invoice in Albany that will work alongside the identical strains. That invoice would set up a framework for the state comptroller, governor and funds 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 the town’s tax base.
With the town’s standing as a serious financial engine for the state and nation, President Trump’s hometown and a spot with progressive insurance policies, the town presents a brilliant blue goal for the presidential administration. The problem of how to withstand Trump’s efforts to encroach on the governance of his house metropolis, has grow to be central to the mayoral race.
Candidate and Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander has proposed bulking up the town’s normal reserve by not less than $1 billion to guard from any cuts. And fellow challengers Zohran Mamdani and Adrienne Adams have additionally been outspoken towards a lot of Trump’s actions within the metropolis.
Others have been much less desirous 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.
