Colorado governor accuses Trump of playing 'political games' after disaster request denials

[BumRushDaShow]

10. Newsom had started looking at this and other states are actually drafting legislation

State lawmakers call for withholding state employees’ federal taxes


By Celia Bernhardt
October 14, 2025

New York has been hit with a slew of federal funding cuts and clawbacks in the past month: $18 billion in infrastructure funding for the Hudson tunnel and Second Avenue subway, $34 million in counterterrorism dollars for the MTA and half a billion in clean energy grants. (Another $187 million was initially revoked but later restored.) That’s not to mention the $80 million in FEMA funding that the Trump administration quietly took from the city’s bank account in February. Negotiations with the White House, pressure campaigns and suing the feds has been the only recourse that states like New York have had in fighting back against federal funding cuts. But a bill introduced in Albany earlier this year could give the state some teeth – or open up new legal headaches.

The RECOURSE Act (which is short for “Reciprocal Enforcement of Claims On Unpaid or Reduced State Entitlements”), sponsored by state Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Micah Lasher, would enable New York to withhold an equal amount of funds to the federal government if federal payments are withheld from the state in violation of a court decision. Equivalent bills have been proposed in the Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin legislatures; Lasher said he stays in touch with the representatives shepherding the idea in their respective states.

“Everyone in the Legislature right now is scrambling to figure out how we can best protect our state,” Ramos said, adding that she thinks the bill “has wide support.”

“It’s a way to fight fire with fire. It’s putting our money where our mouth is,” she said.

(snip)

There are a lot of "public employees" that are not feds and obviously not in the "private sector".