State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says New Yorkers are struggling to make ends meet amid an affordability crisis.

She says families have difficulty paying for child care and shared the legislative plans expected for this session.

Stewart-Cousins says she starts every session with a big voting rights package because everyone at the state Capitol is only there because of people voting.

The majority leader also shared her thoughts ahead of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, saying he helped open the door for her to make state history as the longest-running Democractic majority leader.