Jacques Jiha, Mayor Adams’ top budget official, said Wednesday that Adams’ administration can’t commit to using city funds to offset any federal cuts President Trump may push through, arguing the sheer amount of cash at risk is too large to entertain such a move at this time.
As part of its annual budget, the city gets nearly $10 billion in federal funding that bankrolls various initiatives, including food and rent assistance for low-income New Yorkers as well as education programs and health care services via Medicaid.
“We cannot make any guarantees about funds at this point in time because so many things [are] coming at us, we don’t know what’s gonna stick, what’s not gonna stick,” Jiha said at a City Council hearing Wednesday afternoon when asked if Adams’ administration will seek to use municipal funding to fill any city budget holes caused by any federal assistance cuts enacted Trump and congressional Republicans.
“This is a very tough environment,” Jiha continued. “It’s tough for everyone.”
Furthermore, Jiha said Adams’ team still hasn’t convinced Gov. Hochul’s administration to provide the city with any more state migrant crisis funding.
Last month, Adams’ office acknowledged his team crafted a spending proposal for the next fiscal year that banked on receiving at least $1 billion in state migrant funding, and Jiha reiterated at Wednesday’s hearing that the mayor’s team may have to consider city budget cuts if Hochul doesn’t change her mind.
“Hopefully, we’ll come to a resolution,” he said.
Over the past few years, Adams has implemented deep city budget cuts, including to libraries, parks and other public services, only to reverse many of them after intense pushback from Council Democrats. Adams has defended the cuts as being necessary to offset the city’s heavy spending on housing and services for newly-arrived migrants.
Jiha’s testimony — delivered at a Council Finance Committee hearing that marked the start of this year’s municipal budget season — suggested city spending cuts could be on the table again this year and comes as anxiety’s mounting about the impact Trump’s federal funding threats could have on critical local programs.
Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds from any local jurisdictions that refuse to comply with his policies, including his hardline pledge to target undocumented immigrants for “mass deportations” and push to ban transgender youth from school sports.
Meantime, Adams has said he won’t publicly criticize Trump, whose Justice Department is seeking to drop the mayor’s federal corruption indictment with the unusual condition that Trump needs Adams unencumbered so he can help facilitate his hardline immigration agenda in New York. The Trump DOJ dismissal request is pending approval from a federal judge.
Trump’s Republican allies in the House have paved the way for even more potential cuts. Last month, they passed a budget proposal — yet to be approved by the Senate — that would cut federal spending by $2 trillion by, among other things, slashing funding for the SNAP food assistance program and kicking hundreds of thousands of people off Medicaid.
Jiha, who’s Adams’ top city budget negotiator, testified he couldn’t offer specific estimates on how much federal funding for the city could be at risk due to the moves from Trump and congressional Republicans, saying there are too many unknowns at this time.
Jiha did say, “rest assured that we are,” when asked if his Office of Management and Budget team’s working on contingency plans for scenarios involving federal cuts. He said he didn’t want to elaborate on those plans, though, arguing that would give Trump’s administration too much insight into the process.
Council Finance Committee Chairman Justin Brannan wasn’t convinced.
Brannan, the Council’s top budget negotiator, said there’s a “lack of a plan from City Hall to fight back” against looming Trump cuts.
He argued that became clear when Trump’s administration last month dipped into city government bank accounts and seized $80 million in federal migrant crisis funding while falsely claiming the money was being spent on housing migrants in “luxury hotels.”
Adams’ administration eventually filed a lawsuit against Trump seeking to recoup the $80 million. But Brannan argued Adams’ initially muted response — as well as a flareup inside Jiha’s office related to the court case — speaks to a broader problem.
“The recent $80 million FEMA funding claw back is a perfect example of how compromised our city’s position has become by a mayor who is unwilling to criticize Donald Trump. When it was time to challenge this illegal seizure of funds, we allegedly dumped the problem onto rank-and-file staffers at the Office of Management and Budget, trying to force them to sign documentation to file a lawsuit,” Brannan said.
Brannan was referring to a Daily News report from last week revealing Jiha initially tried to get a staffer in his office to put his name on the lawsuit, threatening the staffer with termination if he refused. The staffer still refused and instead managed to transfer agencies, prompting Jiha to sign the document himself, sources and records confirm.
“This kind of paralysis is unacceptable,” Brannan told Jiha.
Jiha didn’t directly discuss the reported termination threat in the hearing, but told Council members that his office is dealing with a lot at the moment.
“We’re trying to do the best we can to do our jobs,” he said. “This is a very trying time.”
By law, the mayor’s office and the Council need to make a deal on the next city budget by the July 1 start of the 2026 fiscal year.