A day after Hochul’s announcement of a budget deal with legislative Democrats, Assembly Democrat Gary Pretlow spoke on the Assembly floor, saying reports of a budget deal are premature. And, two days after Hochul’s announcement no budget bills have been introduced. Lawmakers approved a ninth budget extender on Tuesday that include funding for institutional payroll, WIC, children’s health insurance programs and unemployment.

It would appear, judging from Pretlow’s comments on the Assembly floor Tuesday, that Hochul has been left at the altar by legislative Democrats, at least temporarily.

The state has spent a total of $14.7 billion through the nine budget extenders. Another extender will be voted on Thursday, Pretlow said, regardless of whether or not a budget agreement is done. Assemblyman Ed Ra, R-Garden City, questioned Pretlow about the budget extenders before asking if there was a budget deal or not.

“Mr. Ra, could I answer that question in the form of a parable?” Pretlow joked. “In life we make certain decisions and one of those decisions for many of us is to marry. We court our future spouse for a length of time and decide to wait and send out invitations and everybody’s planning for a wedding. And one of the two decides I really don’t want to do this, I want to change my mind. You go to your prospective spouse and say, ‘Honey, I don’t think I want to get married.’ And your prospective spouse says, ‘But the invitations are out.’ And with that statement you decide to get married and live miserably for the rest of your life because the invitations were out. This is the governor giving us an invitations trying to force us into something we may not necessarily want to do right now.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul continued her victory tour on Wednesday touting a state budget agreement even as Democrats say there is not yet an agreement on a final 2025-26 state budget.

“I don’t even know what to do with that, but well done, Mr. Pretlow,” Ra replied. “I think it’s unfortunate that the executive would come out prematurely with regard to an announcement if we are not quite there.”

A day after Pretlow said there is no deal, Hochul continued on a victory tour with a news release touting the budget deal that includes inflation refund checks and an increase in the state’s Child Tax Credit.

“The cost of living is still too damn high, so I promised to put more money in your pockets – and we got it done,” Hochul said Wednesday. “Putting nearly $5,000 back in the pockets of families means helping New Yorkers afford the rising costs of groceries, raising kids, and just enjoying life. When I said your family is my fight, I mean it – and I’ll never stop fighting for you.”

Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski, R-Canisteo, continued Pretlow’s marriage parable in his own news release on Monday, criticizing the governor for announcing an agreement before legislative leadership was fully on board while also calling for a more open budget process.

“Well, she jumped the gun big time,” Sempolinski said. “What Gov. Hochul tried to do with her press conference was make a budget deal happen just by saying it had happened. She basically got stood up at the altar by the Democrat legislative majorities. It’s a complete boondoggle and it would be funny if the governor wasn’t talking about spending more than a quarter of a trillion dollars, which is irresponsible on its face.”