At ‘Tin Cup Day’ hearing, Eric Adams’ budget priorities aren’t the point

State lawmakers peppered New York City Mayor Eric Adams with questions for two and a half hours in Albany on Tuesday. The majority of those questions had little to do with Adams’ wishlist in the state budget – the subject of his testimony on “Tin Cup Day.”

New York City’s annual pilgrimage to Albany to lobby for legislation and funding in the state budget often prompts sprawling conversations – it’s the best chance lawmakers have to get answers from Adams directly, and on the record, after all. But this year, as Adams faces a competitive reelection cycle, a corruption trial, and rebuke from some fellow Democrats for refusing to criticize President Donald Trump, the hearing often strayed from the priority requests that Adams and his top lieutenants laid out. Those priorities included legislation to cut the city income tax for low-income earners, legislation that would lower the standard to send people experiencing mental health crises to hospitals, changes to the state’s discovery law and a request for $1.1 billion in funding for migrant services. 

Topics that lawmakers returned to repeatedly, on the other hand, included the city’s response to early moves by the Trump administration, and funding for early childhood programs in the city’s budget. 

At one point, Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair Gary Pretlow asked lawmakers to stay on topic. “Please note, members, that this is a budget hearing,” he said. “Please limit your questions to budgetary items. This is not a campaign.”

That instruction came shortly before back-to-back questioning from two state lawmakers who are challenging Adams in the Democratic mayoral primary this year: state Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani. Both questioned Adams on affordability – a theme they and nearly every other mayoral candidate is promising on the campaign trail.

Ramos asked about cuts in the city budget for early childhood education programs including 3-K, and the administration not renewing leases for five child care centers. “How does this cut aid our shared goal of improving affordability,” Ramos asked. She also asked about how money from the opioid settlement fund is being used – later noting that funding could go to supportive housing units.

Mamdani, whose turn for questions came right after Ramos’, also called out the child care centers. “How does cutting funding for child care, closing those five early childhood centers, make New York City the best place to raise a family,” he asked, invoking another overarching promise the mayor has made. Adams responded that under his administration, early childhood enrollment has reached a record 150,000 children. 

Several other lawmakers targeted their questioning on how the city is responding to policies under the Trump administration – most notably, their moves to increase immigration enforcement, including at previous no-go zones, such as schools and churches. Referring to testimony by New York City Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos that public school attendance has dropped between 3-5% in the weeks since Trump’s election – and her assertion that that partly had to do with fear from immigrant parents and families – several lawmakers asked what the city is doing to reassure and protect those families. 

Adams has routinely said that the city will follow the law, but suggested that adults are spreading that fear. “The adults need to tone down the anxiety,” Adams said, in response to questions from state Sen. Liz Krueger about immigration enforcement at hospitals. Asked specifically about a report from Crain’s New York Business that staff at NYU Langone had been instructed not to actively help people avoid ICE, Adams said that he had not seen the breaking story yet.

Spokespeople for Adams also denied that school attendance has dropped as much as 5%, diverging from the city’s schools chancellor’s description, and sharing data that showed the monthly attendance rate in January was just over 1 percentage point below the same month last year.

Lawmakers’ ability to press him on some of those issues was limited by time restrictions on their questioning – and their sometimes wordy phrasing. Adams found success in running out the clock on several of those thorny issues. The buzzer dinged just as Mamdani finished asking Adams to explain why he’s allowing leases for child care centers with relatively high enrollment to lapse. “I would if I had the time,” Adams replied.

Two of Adams’ other challengers – state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and city Comptroller Brad Lander – weren’t able to pose questions to their opponent on Tuesday, but each used the occasion to criticize the incumbent. Lander, who as comptroller gave his own testimony to the Legislature, proposed a new state and city task force to evaluate and respond to budget threats from the Trump administration, calling Adams “AWOL” on the issue.

Adams was joined on Tuesday by top members of his administration including Budget Director Jacques Jiha, First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, Deputy Mayor for Intergovernmental Affairs Tiffany Raspberry and senior adviser Diane Savino. 

He and his administration did get some questions on what the city is asking for in the state budget. And the relative lack of attention to Adams’ priority requests at the hearing doesn’t mean that he’s poised to fail on those issues. Though the state budget needs to be negotiated by the state Legislature and the governor, Adams already has traction with Gov. Kathy Hochul on his push for the Supportive Interventions Act, the “Axe the Tax for the Working Class” bill, and changes to discovery law. After his testimony, Adams also got to make his case to the people who have the most power to act on his priorities, holding private meetings with Gov. Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.

One item that may be a tougher point of negotiation for Adams is his administration’s request for another $1.1 billion in funding for migrant services – a chunk of change Jiha said is built into the city’s preliminary budget but that has not actually been approved by the state. Hochul’s executive budget, however, didn’t include any new funding for migrant services.