Making a stop in New York’s 21st Congressional District, the 2 Democratic representatives criticized Rep. Elise Stefanik for her vote to pass the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act
By Brenne Sheehan
U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Paul Tonko criticized the recently passed “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act,” highlighting its impacts on Medicaid, Medicare and cancer research funding during a town hall event Sunday in Plattsburgh.
Traveling up to New York’s 21st Congressional District, the northern part of the state represented by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, the event—which filled the Strand Center Theatre’s 950 seats and drew a crowd of hundreds more outside—featured remarks by Cortez, Tonko, local healthcare workers and an audience Q&A. Cortez represents New York’s 14th congressional district in the Bronx and part of Queens and Tonko represents New York’s 20th congressional district in Albany, Saratoga, Schenectady, Montgomery and Rensselaer counties.
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On July 4, Pres. Donald Trump signed the Republican-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” a budget reconciliation law that cuts federal spending and extends Trump-era tax breaks. It adds new Medicaid eligibility requirements, bans new state provider taxes to fund Medicaid, and lowers the federal match rate from 90% to 80% for states covering immigrants without qualified Medicaid status.
The law will result in over $1 trillion cuts to federal Medicaid spending and increase the number of uninsured people by 11.6 million over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s latest cost estimate.
“While Republicans make deep cuts to healthcare, we’re fighting for a future where everyone has affordable healthcare,” Tonko said. “And when you tinker with Medicaid and Medicare to the tune of $1.5 trillion, you are going to make a major dent into service, affordability, and accessibility to healthcare. Make no mistake about it.”
About 250,000 North Country residents are recipients of Medicaid coverage, according to the Healthcare Coalition of the North Country.
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Cortez said that Stefanik “voted against her own people,” in passing the legislation, pointing to rural hospitals in the North Country who have expressed concern over Medicaid cuts and limiting rural access to care. A report by the Kaiser Family Foundation predicts federal Medicaid spending in rural areas will decrease by $155 billion over the next 10 years.
“Massena Hospital and Clifton-Fine Hospital in Star Lake—that hospital is now going to have a much harder time keeping its doors open, thanks to Elise Stefanik. Gouverneur Hospital and Lewis County General Hospital in Lowville have the same story,” Cortez said. “We shouldn’t reward people like this with elected positions in office of public trust. 44,000 New Yorkers in this district alone will be kicked off of Medicaid thanks to her actions.”
In opening remarks, Champlain Valley Physician’s Hospital United Healthcare Workers East (1199SEIU) member Marvin Shaw, who has been cancer free for five years, said that Medicaid covers 1 in 10 and 1 in 3 children with cancer, as well as 3 in 5 nursing home residents. He shared that with the implemented cuts to Medicaid, more people in rural areas will lose coverage for cancer treatments.
“In rural areas like ours, people with cancer who are on Medicaid are more likely to survive because they have the coverage they need for the treatment plans that will save their lives,” Shaw said. “People we know and love will go without healthcare coverage and forgo their treatments that will save their lives. These cuts are devastating and cruel, and I’m ashamed that my congressional representative, Elise Stefanik, voted in favor of taking away life-saving care.”
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Cortez said Republicans overstate the issue of Medicaid coverage for undocumented immigrants. In New York, undocumented immigrants can be covered by Emergency Medicaid for life-threatening conditions and childbirth. The program is funded by both federal and state governments, but the new law reduces federal support to states that provide these services.
“If you repeat something enough, they’ll convince everybody that there are millions of undocumented people on Medicaid and Medicare when undocumented people are not entitled to a federal dollar in these programs, and they know that,” Cortez said. “But they use this because they want us all to turn against each other in order to cut our nose to spite our face. And we will not be fooled by their nonsense anymore.”
Earlier this month, in a statement to Adirondack Explorer, a spokesperson for Stefanik cited an Empire Center study estimating $20 billion in annual Medicaid fraud and a 1,200% rise in Emergency Medicaid costs in New York since 2014.
“There are no cuts to Medicaid and the fact is that the bill actually increases Medicaid by eliminating billions in waste, fraud and abuse. All New Yorkers support ending waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid,” the statement said. “Far Left NY Democrats like Kathy Hochul continue to fearmonger because they know that President Trump and Elise Stefanik are delivering results for the American people.”
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The OBBBA reduces federal Affordable Care Act subsidies, driving up marketplace premiums—especially for low-income and high-risk individuals. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that out-of-pocket premium costs will rise by 75% under the new law.
At the event, an audience member shared they currently pay $1,200 a month for their health insurance for a high-deductible plan.
“It already speaks to how challenging and broken our healthcare system is just to begin with,” Cortez said. “We have to put pressure to cancel these cuts and do what we can to reverse what’s possible.”
In a Monday statement to Adirondack Explorer, a spokesperson for Stefanik said local North Country Democrats were “eerily quiet” on Cortez and Tonko’s visit, citing Cortez’s “Far Left Democrat Socialist policies that have hurt New York families.”
“Thank you for the political gift of a radical Far Left Socialist’s visit to the North Country. It’s like pouring jet fuel on Elise Stefanik’s strong support in Upstate New York,” the statement reads. “AOC is the leader of radical policies like the Green New Scam, abolishing ICE, defunding the police and gun bans. North Country Republicans, Independents, and Democrats reject these insane policies.”
Image at the top: New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Paul Tonko greet an audience at a Plattsburgh Town Hall Sunday. Photo by Emilie Allen.
The national debt was, in our Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s words two years ago, “one of the greatest threats in our nation….” Now, she votes for a bill that will add $3.4 trillion to the debt.
What you don’t hear from the Republicans who support Trump’s so-called “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” is the fact it will add $3.4 trillion to the U.S. national debt over the next decade, according to a report the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Our Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is silent on the national debt, now that she is adding trillions to it. But she wasn’t silent just two years ago when she said this:
“I want to echo the sentiments and thank Speaker McCarthy for bringing together, on a bipartisan basis, this very productive briefing on one of the greatest threats that we face in our nation, that every family faces. Our debt is unsustainable.” (Stefanik, March 9, 2023)
Our Congresswoman Stefanik will support whatever Trump tells her to support.
And a DemocRAT would support anything a DemocRAT president tells him or her to support. So what’s your point?
So, you have no defense or explanation for Stefanik’s flip-flop on national debt?
One time the debt one of the greatest threats to our nation. And then, adding to the debt by over three trillion dollars is worth the tax cuts for herself and others who are well-off.
I guess Stefanik’s supporters will support her no matter what she says, as long as she attacks Democrats. But they don’t seem to come out and defend her words….
The cuts are less than 0.3% of the state budget and by the time fraud and abuse recipients are taken out it’s even less than that. Everyone that’s lived in NY during the Democratic policy years is fully aware that to them the till is bottomless. Our bills and taxes have been going up incessantly for decades and they are just using this Bill as an opportunity to raise our bills again and then just blame Trump and Elise Stephanik. If you add up the amount of money that the state has paid to house,feed and transport illegal immigrants it would probably come close to eliminating the money lost by the cuts. Add in healthcare and it’s probably a wash. All money that could be going to take care of Americans. Trump and Elise Stephanik are forward thinking trying to solve problems before they become problems. Democrat politicians do not look forward,creating problems and then rely on people who watch MSNBC and CNN to believe their lies when they just blame someone else. The Trump administration is already running a surplus after 6 months. His adjusting of our economic force as a nation will most likely cancel out any future deficit. Even if the deficit stuck it would still be half of what the Democrats voted for between 2020 and 2024. Face it folks Socialist policy’s like AOCs don’t work. They will just break all of our backs.
“Massena Hospital and Clifton-Fine Hospital in Star Lake—that hospital is now going to have a much harder time keeping its doors open, thanks to Elise Stefanik. Gouverneur Hospital and Lewis County General Hospital in Lowville have the same story,” Cortez said.
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Our congresswoman Elise Stefanik has a history of voting against programs that would help North Country residents receive the health care they need.
For example, in 2022, Stefanik voted against the Rural Development Grants program from the Department of Agriculture, an initiative that would provide $12.9 million for five hospitals in the 21st CD.
After the bill passed and President Biden signed it into law, her vote against it didn’t stop her from issuing a press release taking credit for it:
“This significant investment will help bolster rural hospitals in Upstate New York and the North Country after lost revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic, help address the physician shortage, and ensure these hospitals can continue to meet our community’s healthcare needs.” (Stefanik Press Release, October, 2022)
There she goes again, voting to hurt North Country residents and lying to us about it.
And what would you think the DemocRATS would have done if they controlled Congress and the White House? Yeah, I thought so.
I can understand why you’re attacking me in an effort to deflect attention away from Stefanik’s own words. What she says and does makes her look bad.
And it’s embarrassing to support someone who, with her own words and actions, looks bad.
Mr. HeimerDINGER, I wonder, do you have a cogent thought to offer or are you simply of the belief that our community’s health and well being is in some way a sporting event?
Our representative is and has been, Stefanik. When Joe Biden was president, Stefanik, tRump’s first term, Stefanik. She is a member of the House of Representatives. Here is the definition of Representatives: people chosen to act and speak on behalf of a wider group.
Stefanik has been chosen, for better or worse, to represent the residents of Congressional District 21. Mar-a-Lago is not in Congressional District 21. Surely it can be expected that our representative ADVOCATES for us. This isn’t a difference of opinion over say, abortion rights. This is promoting the active damage to the health and well-being of her constituents and the North Country’s economy for no apparent reason and for no apparent benefit to the members of her district.
Thanks for playing, I hope this helps…
I’m no journalist but you may want to provide some context regarding the entire last paragraph being bold lies from our congressional representative, otherwise you’re complicit in spreading those lies. There are still people out there that take elected officials’ words as truth without digging any deeper.
Thanks foothills for pointing this out.
Still talking about problems that don’t matter. Wrong side of history folks. We are finally working on the things that matter. I don’t agree with the spending bill either, adds too much debt, but overall at least we are trying to be competitive on a world stage again and not worried about litter boxes in bathrooms. Unbelievable that that’s even a talking point. Socialism isn’t the answer. They live in a fairy tale, they talk about government being the problem, but they’re proposing more government. Ultimately its adoption, or lack thereof, will determine whether America survives.
Go back downstate AOC. You know nothing about what life is like in upstate or northern. How are these people even relevent.
The cuts are less than 0.3% of the state budget and by the time fraud and abuse recipients are taken out it’s even less than that. Everyone that’s lived in NY during the Democratic policy years is fully aware that to them the till is bottomless. Our bills and taxes have been going up incessantly for decades,and they are just using this Bill as an opportunity to raise our bills again and then just blame Trump and Elise Stephanik. If you add up the amount of money that the state has paid to house,feed, and take care of the medical costs for illegal immigrants it would probably come close to eliminating the money lost by the cuts if not cover the whole nut. Didn’t anyone consider this before the Biden administration let them all in ?Trump and Elise Stephanik are forward thinking trying to solve problems before they become problems. Democrat politicians do not look forward creating problems ( the border for example) and then rely on ignorant people to believe their lies when they just blame someone else. The Trump administration is already running a surplus after 6 months. His adjusting of our economic force as a nation will most likely cancel out any future deficit. Even if the deficit stuck it would still be half of what the Democrats voted for between 2020and2024. Face it folks Socialist policy’s like AOCs don’t work. They will just break all our backs.
Most Americans disagree with you.
According to the latest Marquette Law School Poll conducted from July 7-16, 60 percent of Americans believe the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction. And 59 percent oppose Trump’s so-called “One, Big Beautiful Bill Act.” (What should be of particular concern to Republicans is that 65 percent of Independents oppose the bill.)
Right now, I think Trump supporters are just whistling past the graveyard.
No one here is defending or explaining our Congresswoman Stefanik’s flip-flop on the national debt.
Was she right when she said it was “one of the greatest threats in our nation….”? Or was she right when she voted to increase it by $3.4 trillion? Can’t be both.
What ever she says and does is just fine by her voters, even when she flip-flops….
Bo one here is defending or explaining our congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s history of voting against programs that would help North Country residents receive the health care they need, and then taking credit for them when they’re implemented.
Either they’re a bad idea, or they’re not. Can’t be both.
What ever she says and does is just fine by her voters, even when she lies to take credit for the bills she voted against.
Why should I as a taxpayer be responsible for your healthcare or anyone else’s??
Why should we have Republican representatives who lie to us?
Okay great someone who is prepared to provide factual data to support their assertions.
Wayne could you go ahead and add up the amount of money that the state has paid to house,feed, and take care of the medical costs for illegal immigrants please? It sounds like you’ve got access to some very interesting information.
Also, this seems really important too, can you describe, define and provide a rough number of fraud and abuse recipients? That would be really interesting, I’ll appreciate you sharing.
Would you also mind taking a moment to provide the data on the surplus “Trump is running.” That would be really interesting because the only report we’re getting is his bill adds 3.6 trillion to the deficit but it sounds like you have special access to different data, it would be great if you could share.
And while you’re in your private archives would it be possible for you to provide the number of “them” that Biden let in? That would be great.
It seems like your contribution to this discussion is critical to our understanding of how funding for rural behavioral healthcare and medical care works. Are you available for any consulting work? Im sure the organizations who will be faced with budget cuts could use some help turning it into a budget surplus. It seems you’ve got the magic formula. I mean I guess they could raise the price for their services and lay off some workers, reduce services and shutter some useless programs. I’m sure that wouldn’t have any negative effect on the local economies. But with your guidance, they could lay off the right people and close the right programs. You might save the day! Because we know Stefanik won’t….
Wow,wow. I see a lot of TDS here. But I guess that is to be expected. I wonder what will be said when Elise becomes Governor.
Wayne, thank you.
Our country is so divided, just like the politicians and the people that own them want. Just look at the comments on this article, DemocRATS such ignorance.