Cuomo, Legislators Can’t Agree on Budget : Politics: Deficit issue may delay N.Y. governor’s decision on whether to run for President. He asks Legislature to convene.

Gov. Mario M. Cuomo announced Monday that he has been unable to forge a two-year budget plan for New York state, a problem that could further delay his decision on whether to seek the presidency.

Cuomo had sought an agreement with state legislators to erase a projected budget deficit of almost $4 billion over the next 1 1/2 years, which could have freed him to campaign in the Democratic presidential primaries. The governor’s political advisers have long worried that a Cuomo presidential campaign could become bogged down in bitter New York state budget fights.

Since first hinting several weeks ago that he might enter the presidential race, Cuomo has refused to set a deadline for his decision. And he said Monday, when asked about making the decision, “This (New York’s budget problem) comes first.”

In announcing the failure to reach a longer-term budget agreement for New York, Cuomo disclosed a series of measures designed to close an $875-million projected deficit in this year’s $54-billion spending plan. He asked the Legislature to quickly convene--perhaps as soon as Friday--to consider his revenue-saving measures or other options.

It took about a month for lawmakers to close a similar budget gap late last year. Some Republican budget experts on Monday predicted that this year’s session probably will last as long.

A spokesman said that Democratic National Chairman Ron Brown, who has been pressing Cuomo to declare his presidential intentions, had no comment on the prospect that the governor might delay his decision until after the legislative session.

Cuomo on Monday sought to place New York’s troubles in a national context, saying, “The story of our fiscal situation has become better understood as it has become clear that it is not a New York story but a tale of national economic and fiscal failure.”

He added, “New York has made mistakes, as have the governments of other states and local areas, but the dominant force of the deficit has been a powerful, unrelenting collapse of national confidence that has produced an intractable recession affecting most Americans and most of America.”

New York Republicans attempted to place the state’s problems squarely at the governor’s door in an argument that could intensify during what will be a closely watched budget debate in Albany.

“California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Ohio, Connecticut, New Jersey and other states are coping with budget problems and have recognized they can no longer afford the social welfare programs as they are presently constituted,” said Ralph J. Marino, majority leader of the Republican-controlled New York state Senate.