Due to pandemic aid, New York state currently receives more money from the federal government than New Yorkers send to Washington in federal taxes. Not only is this four-year trend about to end, but it is also a shift from a decades-long imbalance that former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan would rail against in an annual report nicknamed "the Fisc."

A new bill would give the state the ability to withhold payments to the federal government if the Trump administration withholds funds from the state in defiance of court orders.

The bill is called the “Reciprocal Enforcement of Claims on Unpaid or Reduced State Entitlements,” or RECOURSE Act, and is one of two bills that were introduced in March by state Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Micah Lasher that are meant to provide the state with some leverage against the Trump administration’s “hostile” attitude toward New York state. 

A second bill, the “Building Recruitment & Incentives for Dedicated Government Employees Act,” or BRIDGE Act, would help the state hire federal employees who have been fired by the Trump administration by buying some back pension credits.

In an interview with Capital Tonight, Assemblyman Lasher explained how the RECOURSE Act would work.