“For too many North Country families, the question is no longer: Is New York too expensive?; it’s: Can we survive here at all?

“Governor Hochul can dress this up as an affordability budget. But you don’t spend your way to affordability, you spend your way deeper into the hole. Rebate checks and ribbon cuttings don’t undo years of reckless mandates, skyrocketing utility bills, crushing regulations and a state government addicted to taxing people who are already running out of road.

“Albany built this crisis. Every costly mandate, every redundant regulation, every feel-good policy that sent energy prices through the roof was a choice. And working families, farmers, seniors and small businesses are paying for it while the people who made those choices call themselves champions of the middle class.

“Enough. North Country families aren’t asking for a headline or a one-time check that disappears before the next heating bill arrives. They want out from under a government that manufactures the problem, sells them the Band-Aid and then expects a thank you.

“A $268 billion budget, and families still can’t afford to stay. That’s not a funding problem. That’s a failure of leadership.”