His statement and the impasse in Albany signaled yet another dead end for the Dream Act, the measure that would allow high school graduates who are undocumented immigrants to apply for state financial aid for college.
Advocates believed that the bill stood a better chance of becoming a reality this time than it had in the past three years. Mr. Cuomo’s linking the two measures was seen as a way to appeal to both Democrats who had been supportive of helping undocumented immigrants and Republicans who favored the tax credit, which was meant to encourage donations to public schools and to scholarship funds for students at private and parochial schools.
But when it became clear that there was not enough legislative support for either measure, Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said he decided to remove the items from the budget talks. “We’re nowhere close to an agreement,” Mr. Cuomo said. “So it was pointless in the budget.”