Today, Assemblyman Karl Brabenec (R,C,I-Deerpark) blasted Gov. Cuomo’s underhanded budget negotiation tactics. Cuomo has threatened to eliminate all state funding for New York’s college tuition assistance program (TAP) unless the Assembly and Senate pass legislation that would provide financial aid to undocumented illegal immigrants (DREAM Act). By using the 30-day budget amendments to tie the future of TAP to the enactment of the DREAM Act, Gov. Cuomo is seriously endangering the ability of legal middle-class residents to further their education.

“The governor is playing fast and loose with our children’s future, and I, for one, am personally insulted,” said Brabenec. “Hundreds of thousands of hardworking, middle-class families rely on TAP, and their financial well-being should not be put in jeopardy so one man can attempt to enact his radical policies. Tying the passage of the DREAM Act, a policy that rewards unlawful residents, to the continued existence of TAP, a program that makes college more affordable for legal families, is inconceivable.”

During the 2013-14 school year, 372,527 New York residents attending college received TAP assistance. Since 1974, more than 5.2 million college students have received in excess of $22 billion in TAP funds according to the state Higher Education Services Corporation.