A federal stimulus package including $125 billion to help states and cities pay for schools and Medicaid would send almost $3.4 billion to New York City, U.S. Senator Charles Schumer and U.S. Representative Charles Rangel said, Bloomber reported.
New York's Independent Budget Office estimates that the city's deficit will sink to $7 billion by fiscal year 2010, or June 30, 2011.
Schumer and Rangel said that although the stimulus package will help alleviate the city's budget crunch, the funding won't eliminate the tough choices city and state officials are going to have to make.
The economic stimulus package would give New York City $1.8 billion for Medicaid and $1.6 billion for education, Schumer's office said in a news release.
"The stimulus package is going to be a shot in the arm for New York City," Schumer said at a City Hall news conference, where he and Rangel were hosted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"For federal government to be pumping money in to the economy to reduce severity of the recession, while the states are taking money out of the economy by either laying people off or raising taxes, simply makes no sense," Schumer said.
The federal economic stimulus package amounting up to $825 billion will be picked up by the Senate this week, Rangel and Schumer said. President Barack Obama could sign the bill by mid- February, they said.
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