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WATCH: Former CMS Administrator, State, Local Officials Slam GOP’s Cuts to Health Care and Food Assistance, Call on Mike Lawler to Vote No

By May 15, 2025No Comments

Administrator Brooks-LaSure: “There never is a time to enact the largest cuts to Medicaid in the history of the program, just to give more tax breaks to the rich.”


Today, former Administrator of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, New York State Senator James Skoufis, and Nyack Mayor Joe Rand joined Defend America Action on a press call to call on U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY-17) to vote against the House Republican budget plan that slashes funding for health care and food assistance programs to give tax breaks to billionaires.

Speakers on the call highlighted how the Trump-backed Republican budget will harm their communities, particularly those who depend on Medicaid and families whose children depend on critical programs like free school lunches.

“Medicaid is a bedrock of our health care system, and it is a lifeline for the 72 million Americans who rely on Medicaid to live a healthy life. Yet despite this, House Republicans are determined to ram through deep and reckless cuts to Medicaid, while also weakening the Affordable Care Act marketplace that provides coverage for another 24 million Americans,” said Former CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “There never is a time – but it’s certainly not now – to enact the largest cuts to Medicaid in the history of the program, just to give more tax breaks to the rich. I would urge Republican members to reconsider and vote against this reconciliation bill that will lead to millions of people losing coverage.”

“When we talk about Medicaid and these cuts that are being proposed, here in New York State, it’s life and death potentially for 6.93 million New Yorkers,” said New York State Senator James Skoufis. “In the district that Congressman Lawler represents, it’s a little over 211,000 of his constituents who may well face cuts to health care. The cuts have nothing to do with fraud, nothing to do with waste, nothing to do with abuse, and has everything to do with kicking people off of their health care.”

“About 1000 [people in my village] are on Medicaid, almost that many of them are on SNAP, which is facing a 20% cut. These are cuts that are going to affect real lives, affect real people,” said Nyack Mayor Joseph Rand. “You can’t make these kinds of cuts and not cut into bone. You’re not cutting fraud and abuse. You’re not cutting waste. You’re cutting benefits for people who need them and rely on them. You’re cutting into the meat and bone of our safety net that we have in this country.”

BACKGROUND

THE GOP BUDGET SLASHES HEALTH CARE AND FOOD ASSISTANCE TO PAY FOR TAX CUTS FOR BILLIONAIRES: House Republicans are moving forward with an unpopular, unaffordable tax break for the wealthiest people in the country, and they’re paying for it by raising costs, taking away health care, and slashing school lunches for working families in New York. 

  • COSTS GOING UP WHILE BILLIONAIRE TAXES GO DOWN: House Democrats released a nonpartisan CBO analysis confirming Republicans’ plan will raise health care costs for working families and take nearly 9 million people’s Medicaid away from them, all to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.

  • GOP BUDGET WILL SLASH HEALTH CARE ACCESS: Mike Lawler and House Republicans’ budget will put health care at risk for over 238,000 New Yorkers in the 17th district, where 92 percent of voters oppose Medicaid cuts, in order to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. This will create at least a $13 billion hole in the New York state budget and cause premium costs and out-of-pocket costs to rise for more than 170,000 New Yorkers.

  • Republicans’ bill works to remove as many Medicaid recipients as possible under the guise of “work requirements.” In reality, virtually all Medicaid recipients work, are caregivers, are elderly or have disabilities.

  • Medicaid disproportionately serves children, older people, and people with disabilities, and in New York, this includes:

    • 4 in 9 New Yorkers with disabilities
  • FOOD ASSISTANCE SLASHED: Mike Lawler and House Republicans’ budget cuts free and reduced-cost school meals, Meals on Wheels and the nutrition program for Women, Infants and Children. They’re putting food assistance at risk for the over 260,000 New Yorkers in the 17th district and over 1.2 million New Yorkers across the state participating in SNAP.

  • The House is set to enact the largest SNAP cut in history. The package aims to cut nearly a third of SNAP’s budget, largely by shifting benefit costs to states for the first time. Republicans’ bill will also enact new unnecessary burdens for older Americans and families with children, while freezing future benefit increases that help households adjust to rising food costs.

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