Paterson sought to step up the pressure in the wake of Moody's warning as he revealed that he is considering a series of tough actions — ranging from state worker furloughs to layoffs to delayed payment of state bills — given the recalcitrant Legislature and the likelihood that the state will run out of cash next month. "Furloughs, layoffs, borrowing, downgraded credit ratings, delayment of payments to schools, delayment of payments to local governments, delayed payments to service providers, delayed payments to the work force," Paterson said, a day after state lawmakers skipped out of the Capitol after rejecting the governor's call for cuts. He also invoked the Moody's warning and suggested that lawmakers aren't treating the situation with the appropriate seriousness — and are more concerned about local politics. "The way in which we reduce the deficit has to meet a threshold so that we don't get a credit-rating downgrade as well," he said.