The sponsor of the EITC bill, Senator Martin Golden (R – Bay Ridge, Brooklyn), says the opposition just doesn’t get it.
“The first year is $150 million, of which $75 million goes to the public schools. It’s not pulling money out of public schools but it is putting money, $75 million, into our schools and it’s coming in through donations and from the private and corporate world,” Golden contends. “The education budget is expected to be upwards of $24 billion, that’s $20,000 per child. We could send every child in the state of New York to private schools for $20,000.”
Sixteen Democrats joined 31 Republicans in the State Senate voting in favor of the EITC bill including Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D – Yonkers). “I have a number of schools in my district that were impacted by it and again I’m interested in educational advancement,” Stewart-Cousins told Albany Beat exclusively.
The bill now heads to the Assembly where, despite all the opposition, Assemblymen Steve Cymbrowitz and Dov Hikind, two Brooklyn Democrats, are leading the charge to get this passed.
“The Speaker [Carl Heastie] was on the bill, his kids go to a parochial school, and now it’s time for him to lead,” said Golden.
Israel And Middle East Focus Of Talk
Congressman Eliot Engel (D – Bronx), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, addressed more than 200 people in Schenectady on the topic of Israel and the Middle East.
The 27-year incumbent said he supports moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, calling it a “disgrace” this has not been accomplished already.
The “biggest existential threat in the region is Iran, ” said Engel. “We have to hold their feet to the fire. “We have to impose new sanctions for terrorism. I didn’t support the [nuclear] agreement. I really don’t trust the Iranians as far as I could throw them.”
On a more positive note, Engel spoke of Israel’s relations with Egypt. “Egypt is the largest country in the Middle East,” he said. “They have a great relationship with Israel. They are working very closely behind the scenes to protect each other’s security needs and there is lots of cooperation that is confirmed by both the Israelis and the Egyptians. They don’t trumpet it. The same is true with Jordan and there is talk with some of the others behind the scenes.”
Engel, 68, was invited by the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York to speak at Agudath Achim, a Conservative synagogue approximately 20 miles west of Albany.
A Notable Passing
Judith Kaye, the former chief judge of New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, passed away earlier this month, losing her five-year battle with lung cancer. She was 77.
The Jewish jurist was born in Monticello, the child of Polish immigrants, who later in life was a congregant at Congregation Shearith Israel, a Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in Manhattan, the country’s oldest congregation.
Her funeral service was held at Lincoln Center to honor her love of opera. Her husband, Stephen Rackow Kaye, succumbed to cancer at age 75 in 2006.
She leaves behind three children, seven grandchildren, and a brother. She was the first woman to serve as chief judge. She had 25 years of service on the bench – 15 years as chief judge, serving the longest in that post in New York history – when she retired at the mandatory age of 70.