Rapper Cardi B Goes Off on NYC’s Eric Adams’ Budget Cuts: ‘Crimes Are Gonna Go Through the Roof’

Grammy-winning hip-hop star Cardi B isn’t too happy about New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ (D) plan for sweeping budget cuts.

The New York Post reports:

The 5% cuts — which will kneecap departments throughout the Big Apple — are the first of three rounds Adams has ordered to compensate for the billions of dollars the city has spent taking care of asylum seekers who have flooded New York.

[…]

Few city departments will emerge unscathed after Adams’ ax falls. He plans to slash $32 million from the city’s sanitation department as well as $74 million from the FDNY and $547 million from the Department of Education.

In a livestream reposted to X.com, Cardi B predicted that the budget cuts will make New York City an even more dangerous place.

Cardi B goes off on the US government about the $120 Million Dollar budget cut in New York that'll effect Schools, Libraries, The Police Department, & Sanitation while funding wars. pic.twitter.com/WwCrbFbvGS

— Cardi B | Updates (@updatesofcardi) November 19, 2023

“Crimes are gonna go through the roof because there is a police safety budget cut,” Cardi B said.

The Post notes:

The NYPD’s force will be reduced to just 29,000 cops by the end of fiscal year 2025 — the lowest level since the mid-90s — amid a slew of city-wide budget cuts revealed by Mayor Eric Adams Thursday as the Big Apple grapples with its multi-billion-dollar migrant crisis.

“What’s going to happen to my nieces? What’s going to happen to my nephews? What’s going to happen to my cousins, my aunts, my friends that’s living in the hood?” the rapper asked. “On top of that, there’s a sanitation fucking budget cut so that means we’re gonna be drowning in rats.”

“I’m from the Bronx, I don’t want to see my shit affected … Everybody be like, ‘New York is dirty,’ and it is dirty,” she added. “And we’re going to get even dirtier with the fucking budget cut.”

Cardi B also criticized President Joe Biden for seeking to provide financial assistance to Ukraine and Israel as they fight wars against Russia and Hamas, respectively, despite Adams’ proposal to cut services in New York City.

“How is there $100 million budget cut in New York City for f—ing schools, library, police safety, and sanitation, yet Joe Biden is talking about, ‘Yeah, we can fund two wars’?” the “I Like It” rapper said. “We can’t fund these wars, we can barely fucking fund this country.”

A revised budget — $110.5 billion — will go before the New York City Council next week for approval from lawmakers.

“To balance the budget as the law requires, every city agency dug into their own budget to find savings, with minimal disruption to services,” Adams said of the move.

For months, we have warned New Yorkers about the challenging fiscal situation our city faces.

Read about our November 2023 Financial Plan Update now: https://t.co/aggeuEVoli pic.twitter.com/Pv5EbDotp4

— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) November 16, 2023

“And while we pulled it off this time, make no mistake: Migrant costs are going up, tax revenue growth is slowing, and COVID stimulus funding is drying up,” the New York Democrat added.

Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, slammed Adams’ plan in a statement to the Post.

“This is truly a disaster for every New Yorker who cares about safe streets,” Hendry said. “Cops are already stretched to our breaking point, and these cuts will return us to staffing levels we haven’t seen since the crime epidemic of the ’80s and ’90s. We cannot go back there.”