Mayor Eric Adams' representatives skip NYC Council hearing on Trump federal funding cuts, sparking outrage
Published in News & Features
NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams’ office declined to send anyone to testify at a City Council hearing Wednesday that was called to review his plans for dealing with the President Trump’s federal funding cuts, drawing outrage from members of the chamber who argued the no-show signals Adams isn’t taking the threat of Trump seriously.
Since January, Trump has clawed back tens of millions of dollars in migrant crisis funding from the city, canceled tens of millions of dollars more in federal health grants and threatened to terminate as much as $10 billion in various other forms of federal assistance to the city for everything from early-childhood education programs to public housing subsidies.
Wednesday’s hearing, held by the Council’s Finance and Governmental Operations committees, aimed to dig into what Adams’ administration is doing to prepare for and fight against Trump’s cuts, which are disrupting the lives of New Yorkers in various ways.
But just before the hearing started, Finance Committee Chairman Justin Brannan and Governmental Operations Committee Chairman Lincoln Restler said First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro called the Council the night before to tell them no one from Adams’ administration would appear.
“We’re not looking to have a gotcha moment. … Federal cuts are coming, they’re already here; what’s your plan to stave off, to fight back on those cuts? We’d like to hear the plan and them not showing up means they got no plan,” Brannan, D-Brooklyn, told reporters at City Hall.
Restler, D-Brooklyn, called the administration’s absence “profoundly disturbing.”
“The fact that they are failing to even come and share the most basic information about how we’re preparing for a tsunami of cuts that’s already underway and only getting worse … is grim,” he said.
The no-show comes as Adams faces accusations he’s beholden to Trump’s agenda after the Justice Department’s controversial dismissal of the mayor’s federal corruption indictment. The dismissal only came after Trump administration officials told Adams they expected him to play a larger role in helping the president target undocumented New Yorkers for “mass deportations,” and the mayor has since avoided publicly criticizing the president.
“Even with Eric’s case going away, it’s clear that they’re still carrying (Trump’s) water,” Brannan fumed.
Adams has denied any quid pro quo with Trump.
Asked why no one appeared at the hearing, Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said Adams’ administration would submit written testimony instead. She also noted Adams’ administration has sued Trump’s administration over some funding reductions, including the $80 million in migrant crisis aid Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency seized from the city in February.
“Our written testimony provides extensive detail on all that work. Any Council member claiming otherwise is exposing this hearing for what it truly was: a political stunt, not a genuine effort to solve problems,” Mamelak said.
Adams’ office ultimately provided the Council with written testimony about 10 minutes before the hearing concluded, according to Restler. The testimony laid out the federal budget needs of seven key city agencies that could be especially hard hit by federal cuts, including the NYPD and the Departments of Education, Social Services and Health.
In the document, each agency voiced concern about what could happen if Trump carries out some of his most extreme cuts, including the Department of Education, which wrote “any” federal school funding reductions “would negatively impact the students of New York City.”
But in the submission, Adams’ federal affairs office wrote the administration is unable to “make detailed projections or formally prepare for specific cuts” due to a lack of “clear guidance” from the feds.
Instead, the office wrote it continues to “closely monitor” budgetary actions by the White House and Congress while convening “weekly coordination calls” with city agencies.
Restler said the Council asked the administration weeks ago to testify in-person at the hearing. Specifically, he said he asked for testimony from the mayor’s office and several key city agencies.
Instead, experts from the Citizens Budget Commission and other groups testified at the hearing about the dire consequences the city could face if Trump’s administration makes good on more funding cut threats. Perhaps the most serious threat is Trump’s vow to cut all federal funding from sanctuary cities like New York, a move that could blow a $10 billion hole in the city’s budget and result in devastating service reductions, especially for low-income residents.
In conjunction with Wednesday’s hearing, Restler, Brannan and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, D-Queens, who’s running for mayor this year, also released a list of “targeted” investments they say the city should make to hedge against Trump cuts.
That included a proposal to give the city Health Department a new $8 million infusion to transform 80 existing neighborhood clinics into vaccination hubs amid Trump’s cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. The list also proposes spending $2 million on hiring 25 new NYPD counterterrorism officers as Trump has slashed the ranks of the local FBI field office.
Even as Adams avoids criticizing Trump, Restler said he has spoken privately to officials in his administration who are deeply concerned about Trump’s cuts.
“They’re afraid to offend the mayor by criticizing Donald Trump and his administration,” Restler said. “It’s a bizarre scenario; we’re fully through the looking glass.”
Also Wednesday, Kaz Daughtry, Adams’ deputy mayor for public safety, skipped testifying at a hearing held by the Council’s Criminal Justice Committee to review the administration’s efforts to close Rikers Island. Other administration officials, including ones from the Correction Department, did appear to testify at that hearing.
“I suspect that (Daughtry) did not want to come before the Council after deciding to help facilitate Trump’s mass deportation pipeline,” Criminal Justice Committee Chairwoman Sandy Nurse, D-Brooklyn, said, referencing the administration’s order to allow ICE to operate on Rikers Island.
_____
(With Josephine Stratman.)
_____
©2025 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Comments