They can\u2019t vouch on a budget deal.<\/p>\n
Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s bid to hash out an agreement with the City Council on a $124.7 billion proposed city budget<\/a> has reached an impasse over a controversial housing voucher program, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n The city has until midnight Tuesday to pass a budget, although failing to do so carries no consequences other than bruised political egos for not green-lighting a spending plan on time during Mamdani\u2019s first year in office.<\/p>\n Follow The Post\u2019s live updates for the latest on New York politics, from the city to Albany<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThey put political people in charge and they just don\u2019t know the budget,\u201d one insider gripes.<\/p>\n Mayor Zorhan Mamdani made the $124.7B proposal during an hour-long announcement, followed by a press Q&A, inside the Blue Room at City Hall in Lower Manhattan on May 12, 2026. Paul Martinka for NY Post<\/p>\n The main sticking point is the expansion of the cityFHEPS housing voucher, insiders said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mamdani continued to balk at funding the voucher \u2013 a prospect that could cost the city billions of dollars for years to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n City Council Speaker Julie Menin and her allies \u2013 including some lefties otherwise aligned with Mamdani \u2013 are pushing a bill to expand the voucher program, albeit with guardrails for spending.<\/p>\n The pro-voucher crowd held a rally Sunday and fired up a supportive storm of X posts that rankled the social media-focused Mamdani, sources said.<\/p>\n Council Speaker Julie Menin at a hearing at City Hall on June 11, 2026. William Farrington for The NY Post<\/p>\n \u201cThe CityFHEPS rental assistance program is a lifeline for 65,000 of the most vulnerable New Yorkers \u2013 but it could and should be serving thousands more,\u201d Menin posted.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cToday we rallied at City Hall to demand that the Administration fund the program\u2019s expansion in the city budget: New York families can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n City Council members in 2023 voted to expand cityFHEPS, potentially roping in up to 50,000 new families at a cost of more than $10 billion during its first five years.<\/p>\n Former mayor Eric Adams desperately fought the expansion \u2014 which he contended would cost billions of dollars more than advertised \u2014 by first issuing a veto that was overridden<\/a>, and then with a court battle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Former Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference in Times Square marking his first public appearance since leaving office on Jan. 12, 2026. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n The former mayor\u2019s court fight drew jeers from then-state Assemblyman Mamdani, who deemed it a \u201cridiculous waste of time during a housing crisis<\/a>.\u201d He double-downed by promising during the mayoral campaign to drop the lawsuit and let the voucher program go forward.<\/p>\n But Mamdani, once in office, changed his tune significantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n