New York Budget Deficit Grows Due to State Senate Republican Block, Say Democrats

(New York, NY) $6 billion in debt, Senate Republicans are costing the state $1 million a day due to their unwillingness to accept an agreement reached between the state and Buffalo-based Delaware North to operate the Video Lottery Terminal franchise at Aqueduct. Even after instructions by Governor Paterson to cut the state's budget to address the fiscal crisis, Senate Republicans are throwing away money that could be used to repair the crumbling economy and bolster Upstate New York.

State Senate Democrats have launched a daily calculator to track how much the Senate Republicans are costing the state due to their failure of leadership."

So how much is a million dollars a day? Enough to buy healthcare for a year for 104 New York families, for example. Over the course of a year, that's over 38,000 families. Meanwhile, however, that money is quietly floating out the window, because, drumroll please, Dean Skelos and his caucus can't get their act together.