Bronx-based superstar rapper Cardi B took aim at US government and officials after New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced budget cuts across all departments due to the Big Apple’s migrant wave.
The Grammy-winning artist called out leaders for making cuts to vital departments such as education and sanitation in her livestream reposted on social media.
“120 million cuts to schools, libraries, police and sanitation, b***h New York is already fucking super dirty,” Cardi B said.
“How come New York City has been cut $100 million in damn schools, library, police safety and sanitation, while Joe Biden is talking about ‘yeah, we can fund two wars.’
On Thursday, the mayor announced a $110.5 billion budget, claiming cuts across all departments were necessary after the city spent $1.45 billion on the migrant crisis in the 2023 budget year.
Bronx native and Grammy artist Cardi B called out Mayor Eric Adams and President Joe Biden for the latest cuts in New York City
Adams announced cuts to all departments due to the expensive migrant crisis
The chart-topping rapper often gives back to her hometown. In 2022, Cardi B is working with the mayor’s office to help pay for the funerals of the 17 victims of the Bronx apartment fire.
“What’s going to happen to my nieces, what’s going to happen to my cousins, what’s going to happen to my cousins, my aunts, my friends that live in the area,” the Bodak Yellow hit rapper said. “I’m from the Bronx, I don’t want my s**t tarnished.”
“Everyone says, ‘New York is dirty,’ and it is dirty, and we’re going to get dirtier with the damn cuts.”
The cuts would result in NYPD officer cuts by one-fifth, or 13.5 percent, by postponing the next five academy classes, bringing the number of officers below 30,000 — down from 36,000.
Education would also take a $1 billion hit over two years and it would delay the rollout of composting in the Bronx and Staten Island, reducing waste collection and cutting cuts to pre-K programs of the city.
The New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library would also have to eliminate Sunday service due to the budget cuts.
“Without adequate funding, we cannot maintain our current levels of service, and further cuts to libraries’ budgets will unfortunately result in deeper impacts to services,” the libraries said in a statement.
Adams ordered city agencies — including the NYPD, the Fire Department and the Department of Education — to cut budgets by 15 percent this fiscal year
The cuts would also reduce funding for education and library services
The cuts would also reduce funding for two children’s programs: summer school and universal preschool.
Cardi B said, “If your kid can’t buy books at the book fairs and stuff, your kid can barely read at the local library, they’re gonna close that shit down.”
“Crimes are going to skyrocket because there are cuts in police safety and on top of that there are cuts in sanitation, so that means we’re going to be drowning in rats.”
Adams mentioned the Big Apple’s expensive housing costs. More than 120,000 migrants have arrived in the past 18 months.
The mayor has signed $5 million in nearly 200 contracts for migrant services since last year, when he declared a state of emergency. The contracts show that $140 million is spent on security, $45 million on asylum applications and $7 million on laundry.
Adams has said the crisis will cost New York City $12 billion over three years.
“But for months you’ve heard me talk about the budget challenges facing the city as the costs of the humanitarian crisis for asylum seekers have skyrocketed, putting significant pressure on our budget,” the mayor said in announcing the cuts.
“At the same time, Covid-19 stimulus funding is coming to an end – we have made it clear that without significant, timely action from our state and federal partners, we will be forced to make some difficult choices.”
Cardi B said, “Mayor Eric said it: budget cuts are happening in New York and little by little they will happen in your states.”
Migrants wait outside the Roosevelt Hotel to be processed on August 2. Since spring 2022, more than 118,000 have flooded New York City, a “sanctuary city”
Asylum seekers line up outside the historic Roosevelt Hotel in September. The city estimates it will spend $12 billion on the migrant crisis over the next three years
“The mayor says there’s $120 million in cuts, and believe me, if they make a big cut in New York City, make sure it goes to your state.”
“We cannot finance these wars, we can hardly finance this country,” she added.
Lincoln Restler, chairman of the City Council’s progressive caucus, echoed Cardi B’s thoughts.
“Mayor Adams’ unnecessary, dangerous, and draconian budget cuts will only worsen New York’s affordability crisis and delay our city’s economic recovery by cutting funding for the schools, childcare, food assistance, and more that help New Yorkers survive in this city and raising families,” he told the New York Times.
The city’s largest police union also denounced the cuts, warning that they will make the streets less safe by reducing the number of officers to levels last seen in the 1980s and 1990s.
The number of police officers patrolling the streets is expected to drop from 33,541 to about 29,000, the lowest staffing level since the 1990s.
“Police have already reached breaking point, and these cuts will return us to a workforce we haven’t seen since the crime epidemic of the 1980s and 1990s,” said Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association.
‘We can’t go back there anymore. We need all levels of government to work together to find a way to support police officers and protect New York City’s thirty years of public safety progress.”