The 'beginning of the end' of the state budget as first bill moves

And Wall Street profits nearly doubled last year while bonuses reached record highs.

Good afternoon — it’s Wednesday and National Spinach Day.

In today’s CapCon:

• The first of 10 bills that make up the state budget is scheduled to pass Thursday.

• That marks the “beginning of the end” as negotiations continue. They’re going well, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Wednesday.

• Wall Street bonuses reached an all-time high and could help state budget talks.

• On The Bill: Here’s the mask ban bill that’s being discussed as part of the budget.

• Simcha Felder is leaving the state Senate. Here’s a look back at one of his most powerful moments.

Names in today’s CapCon: Kathy Hochul, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Carl E. Heastie, Thomas P. DiNapoli, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Linda Rosenthal, Cordell Cleare, Anthony Palumbo

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The state budget is due April 1. We’re keeping you updated on negotiations around the spending plan in the meantime.

I’m not going to give you context for this photo (Dan Clark/Times Union)

💵 Hochul and lawmakers ‘are making good progress,’ first budget bill to pass Thursday

I did not expect to see a line of people circling a giant, inflatable baby at the state Capitol on Wednesday. But that’s the state budget for you.

“Big baby! Big need! We need child care, yes indeed!” they chanted. It was a welcome reprieve from “Hey, hey! Ho, ho!”

They were advocating for deeper investments from the state in child care and $1 billion to fund child care vouchers in New York City that will otherwise disappear for tens of thousands of families.

“There’s no way out of it except raising taxes on the rich,” said state Sen. Jabari Brisport, a Democrat who chairs the Committee on Children and Families. Both the Senate and Assembly want to do that this year. Gov. Kathy Hochul does not.

It’s a conflict that’s more present than ever as Democrats in Albany build a state budget without a safety net for potential funding cuts from the federal government. That’s intentional, Hochul and other lawmakers have said.

New York receives about $93 billion in federal funding. More than half of it is for Medicaid. The second-largest pot is for health care overall and the rest is spread between various areas, including education and transportation.

Hochul and Democrats in the Legislature are now united on a strategy to pressure Republicans from New York in Congress to save that funding from being cut.

“We do believe that we have a path forward with support from our congressional representatives who are in the majority,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Wednesday.