George E. Pataki
PER
George E. Pataki Pataki
Gov. George E. Pataki's staff claimed that the Legislature's new budget understates spending by as much as $2.6 billion and would create deficits totaling at least $10 billion. But the Pataki administration's criticisms focused mainly on Medicaid, the program that has increasingly accounted for the state's growth in spending. The governor's staff also expressed concern that the Legislature was rejecting Mr. Pataki's plan to increase cigarette taxes, which provide money for a variety of health care initiatives through the Health Care Reform Act, known as H.C.R.A.