Just days after a national government shutdown was averted, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand spoke about the crisis in state budgets at the Italian Academy.
Gillibrand was the keynote speaker for the 14th Annual David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum on Monday, and in her speech she called on students to create change and get involved in public policy in a time of pressing budgetary crises.
“Budgets are moral documents, they’re about choices that we make, what are our core values, what should we care about,” Gillibrand said.
“What we see at the federal level are choices that are not the right choices for our future—cutting education, cutting women’s healthcare,” Gillibrand said. “How can you cut spending for Pap smears, for mammograms … these are the safety nets that we need for all our families.”
Gillibrand spent little time on budgetary issues at the state level, and instead focused on her personal political experience. She described her interest in politics as stemming from an event similar to the Dinkins Forum.
“I came to an event like this and the speaker at this event was Andrew Cuomo and he was giving a speech on the importance of public policy,” Gillibrand said. “I wanted to know how do I get involved, how do I make a difference.”
Gillibrand was joined by several other prominent panelists, including former New York Governor David Paterson and President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten.
Although the focus of the forum was on state budgets, recent national events also shaped the discussion.
John H. Coatsworth, the dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, spoke about how budget problems intersected with the recent economic turmoil.
“The threat of the recent government shutdown is but the latest example,” Coatsworth said. “Our country is being held hostage by a struggle for political power and interests.”
Attendees felt that the timing of the conversation about state budgets reflected what was on everyone’s minds.
“It’s a huge issue and extremely important today,” Gary Kurtz, a Morningside Heights resident, said. “We need to establish an ongoing dialogue about this issue.”
Ester Fuchs, a professor at SIPA and the forum moderator, focused on the special position of students as people especially educated about government.
“Students aren’t an ordinary voter or ordinary citizen,” Fuchs said. “We need to focus on how students can influence the policy.”
Other panelists, including Paterson, focused more on the state New York state budget, citing the state's excessive debt.
“Between April 2008 and April 2009, New York state experienced the highest budget deficit escalation in the history of the U.S.,” Paterson said. “As a nation, right now in this crisis we're going the wrong way.”
Panelist Dall Forsythe, vice president for finance and operations at the Atlantic Philanthropies, agreed on the necessary interaction between the state and federal governments.
“At the state level we can change planning and change rhetoric,” Forsythe said. “The federal government has to plan for what it did improvisationally and how to include assistance for states.”
jackie.carerro@columbiaspectator.com
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