Gov. Kathy Hochul, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), and hospital staff members railed on Sunday afternoon against a Trump-backed bill that they warned will gut funding for health care coverage for seniors and low-income New Yorkers.
Hochul did not mince words as she addressed doctors, nurses, and management inside of One Brooklyn Hospital Interfaith Medical Center located at 1545 Atlantic Ave. She took aim conservative elected officials in the Big Apple who voted to pass what President Donald Trump has dubbed the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” tax cut and spending bill, which includes draconian cuts to Medicare and Medicaid funding.
“We’re at war to protect our people, and I’m sick and tired of Washington thinking that we can be the collateral damage in the weaponization of programs that we’ve relied on for nearly 60 years, and cut them so they can cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires,” Hochul scoffed. “Republicans call it reform, basically Robin Hood in reverse, right out of our pockets.”
According to Hochul, some 1.5 million New Yorkers would lose healthcare coverage if the act, as planned, is approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Trump. Hospitals in the Big Apple would also lose over $3 billion in funding.
Hochul and Jeffries say the bill’s impact on Medicaid would also be catastrophic for New York’s government, predicting it will lose $2.5 billion in federal revenue, while incurring $500 million in more costs to cover state administrative issues.
The cuts threaten to harm New York’s most vulnerable citizens, a point many sought to stress Sunday.
Michelle Ned says she has worked at Interfaith Medical Center for over four decades, and her daughter lives with autism and depends on Medicaid. Some 95% of patients who visit Interfaith are insured through Medicare and Medicaid, and if the “One Big Beautiful Bill” becomes a reality, Ned fears the hospital will soon vanish. But she is not willing to accept that reality without a fight.
“That simply means that this hospital will not be able to survive without it,” Ned said. “We will fight because this is not an option. You cannot take away what is our right.”
In the crowd of spectators, staff and patients alike waved signs reading, “Hands off our Health care” and “No Medicaid Cuts.”
While condemning New York Republicans for falling in line to Trump, Jeffries nonetheless sought to strike a more positive tone — saying he has hope for the Senate.
Jeffries said that the bill, which he called “big and ugly” and part of the infamous Project 2025, only needs four Republicans to halt it in its tracks.
“They want to take a chainsaw to Medicare. They want to take a chainsaw to the Affordable Care Act. We’re going to take a chainsaw to Project 2025, and we can start by stopping this one big, ugly bill, because it’s straight out of the project 2025 playbook,” Jeffries said. “Whenever I’m on the House floor, we make it clear we don’t work for Donald Trump, we don’t work for the extremists, we work for the American people.”
