Governor was joined by industry leaders in Saranac Lake
By Mike Lynch
Governor Kathy Hochul stopped in Saranac Lake Friday afternoon to speak before a packed house at the Harrietstown Town Hall against federal policies and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act before Congress.
The hourlong event focused on how the current administration’s policies have hurt North Country tourism and farmers and are threatening its health care industry. In addition to Hochul, the Saranac Lake event featured local industry leaders and elected officials. The crowd included both Democrats and Republicans, including Shaun Gillilland, chair of the Essex County’s Board of Supervisors, and former state Sen. Betty Little.
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Hochul, a Democrat, and some speakers were particularly focused on Trump’s House Bill No. 1, known as “the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that passed the U.S. House of Representatives in May and is currently before the Senate. If passed, the bill would have to return to the House before being signed into law by President Donald Trump.
“I’m telling you all this with great love and admiration for this part of our state. But because of that, I had to come here today and tell you why this moment in time is very perilous,” Hochul said. “It’s dangerous right now because of decisions being made in Washington as we speak… This area is under siege.”
Speaking in the congressional district of Republican Elise Stefanik, Hochul called on the crowd to contact their Republican representatives to oppose the bill, noting they have voted for it previously.
“If we can harness the power of all your voices, we only need to persuade one or two Republican legislators to say, please put your district first…you don’t have to vote for this when it comes back,” she said.
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It has been widely reported that Stefanik is gearing up to run against Hochul, who is up for reelection in 2026. Calls to Stefanik’s office were not immediately returned.
Some members of the health care industry have already opposed the bill because it includes cuts to Medicaid. One in three people in the North Country rely on Medicaid, Hochul said.
“Many of our hospitals in the North Country are at risk,” she said. “They operate at razor-thin margins, and they serve large Medicaid populations.”
Hudson Headwaters Chief Medical Officer William Borgos told the crowd that his organization is anticipating a loss of $2.3 million due to proposed Medicaid cuts. He said the Community Health Center Association of New York State has projected that the cuts will cost the state roughly $300 million or about 11% of total patient revenue.
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“As we face further proposed Medicaid reductions and restrictions to the 340 B federal drug pricing program, we know that we could be facing devastating consequences and be forced to further reduce, or potentially even eliminate some services,” he said.
Borgos said that he has taken care of thousands of Medicaid patients and that “preserving Medicaid is essential.”
Hochul said the bill will take away health care coverage for 1.5 million New Yorkers and 44,000 North Country residents.
“Congressional Republicans, who are in the majority, backed by Donald Trump, have passed a budget that slashes $13.5 billion from New York’s health care system, including $357 million just in the North Country alone,” Hochul said. “We cannot sustain those cuts, and the state of New York is not going to be able to backfill that. We don’t have that much money to be able to do it.”
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Nicole Lauren, CEO of Joint Council for Economic Opportunity , a nonprofit community action agency that serves low-income communities in Clinton and Franklin counties, said federal cuts will have drastic impacts on their clients.
She said many people aren’t making enough money to feed themselves, and it’s a growing problem that will get worse as a result of proposed federal policies.
“It is a growing issue in our region, and one that touches every corner of our community,” she said. “It’s parents who skip meals so their children can eat. It’s seniors who choose to buy prescriptions instead of groceries, and it’s working families who do absolutely everything right month after month.
She said “the crisis is set to get a lot worse” if proposed cuts to programs like SNAP, WIC (Women, Infants and Children), Medicaid, LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) and the Community Services Block Grant actually go through.
“They aren’t just programs. They are lifelines,” she said.
Calls for better relationship with Canada
In addition to these proposed cuts, America’s deteriorating relationship with Canada was also addressed.
Garry Douglas, president and CEO of the North Country Chamber of Commerce, talked about how important Canada is to the manufacturing supply chain and tourism industry in the North Country. That relationship has been damaged by the current federal policies and trade negotiations, he said. President Trump has called for adding Canada as the 51st state and imposed new tariffs on a variety of goods.
“We respect Canada’s history and sovereignty as a great country,” Douglas said. “We do not forget Canadians as the people who stormed the beaches of Normandy with us 81 years ago, who joined the Union Army during our Civil War in the tens of thousands in support of freedom, who saved our diplomats in Tehran at risk to their own, who took our people into their homes at Gander (International Airport) on 9/11, who shed blood with us in Afghanistan.”
Visitation from Canada to New York is down 30% this year as a result, Douglas said.
“We don’t believe that is going to reverse this year,” he said.
Immigration policies impact farmers
Mike Murphy, who is a manager and junior partner of Childstock Farms in Gabriels and a board member with the New York Farm Bureau Board of Directors, talked about the importance of rural health care and how federal immigration policies have hurt farmers.
“Our farm simply wouldn’t function without the contributions of our 50 immigrant workers,” said Murphy, who said their workers participate in the H-2A visa program.
He said Congress has failed over recent decades to pass “meaningful immigration reform” and has left many farms without a viable way to hire the skilled workers they need, putting their businesses and livelihoods at risk in the North Country and across the state.
He said there is a need for clear and comprehensive immigration policies.
“The back and forth from the federal government is exhausting and disruptive,” he said. “One day, massive deportations are promised. The next day, there’s talk of exemptions for farm workers.”
He called immigration workers the backbone of New York’s agriculture economy.
“They are highly skilled, deeply experienced, and bring tremendous value to our farms,” he said. “These are people we care about, members of our community, and they deserve safety, dignity and respect.”
Top photo: Gov. Kathy Hochul visited Saranac Lake on Friday to speak about how federal policies are hurting the North Country. Photo by Mike Lynch
The Governor is trying to present the reality of what will happen if this bill passes. People had better start paying attention and call up their congresspeople before it’s too late. They cannot give the billionaires their massive tax cuts unless they cut services. Wake up folks !
Or….maybe you should wake up and stop listening to just the liberal news and Fuhrer Hochul, who’s only mission is to make Trump look bad. Liberals are losing their minds and can’t see the tree through the forest. Are all of these cuts perfect? No, but most make sense if you dig deeper and look for the desired end result. We have created a system that allows people to not work because the handout are there. These programs used to be assistance for people working but struggling, people with disabilities or elderly but have now become younger people’s livelihoods. The groups that I mentioned will not be affected by the cuts but the people who are capable and should be working will have to get one of the thousands of local jobs that are available. Of course organizations that benefit from these programs are going to complain but if people work and have incomes they will still get the medical services.
I understand the difficulty in which some rural communities may find themselves vis a vis healthcare/Medicaid costs. I hesitate to suggest it, but New York State might find itself in less dire straits if it did not spend billions of its taxpayers’ dollars on supplying illegal migrants with amenities in the form of free food, lodging and health care–which only attracts more of them.
As for agricultural workers, the situation seems murky. The interviewee says his have visas and are very skilled, then fears they will be deported. Am I the only one left wondering? I am surprised the Saratoga racecourse wasn’t heard from, as I suspect that they, too, have a lot at stake if illegal aliens are deported (as do breeders and trainers).
Very good questions JoAnn. They are currently working on the immigration laws for farm labor and, like most everything this administration has done, I think they will have a quick resolution.
I’ll take the word of local farmers and health care providers over right-right propagandists any day….
And democrats are so trust worthy?? I believe what they have to say just about as much as I do republicans. I don’t trust either of them. No one should. They are all out for themselves
Changes to the immigration law in regards to farm labor is already in the works and will be resolved with positive results for farms. Healthcare providers have built a revenue system built on maximizing revenue not patient care. Medicaid and Medicare are by far their biggest revenue streams by more than 3 times any other source so it makes sense to fight to keep this money. If the people capable of working but are not go to work they will have insurance to get the same care and help business who are struggling to find employees, add to the tax base in stead of using it. That’s what the cuts are aimed at and everybody benefits.
Congress should change the name of this bill to the “One Big Ugly” bill.
It will add $3 trillion to the national deficit, cut health care and food assistance to millions, all to extend tax cuts that will primary benefit the wealthy and well-off.
Despicable.
Look up how many millions the state has and continues to spend to supplement the mess Fuhrer Hochul has made with the prison system and to “help” illegal immigrants and put that towards these programs. She’s such a hypocrite and liberals watch the narrow minded news and buy it hook line and sinker.
Despicable!
Nice try.
But you’re not distracting anyone from recognizing the utter cruelty Trump and his Republican cadre are foisting on the American people with their attack on vulnerable Medicaid recipients in order to fund their money-grabbing, grubby tax cuts for the well-off and the wealthy.
That is truly disgusting.
You should start reading things for yourself and not just listening to the liberal news. Yes, people will lose Medicaid but mainly just people abusing it (people who should be working) and fraud. The people that truly need it will not. The people that will benefit most from the bill will be middle class in the form of tax cuts. When did liberals lose the concept of how this country was formed and flourished? It was formed on hard work and capitalism and not people expecting the government to take care of them. I’ll help you out, tariffs, to take care of the other countries that have been taking advantage of us, to create jobs for the people capable of working but, not because politician like Hochul and Shumer will take care of them.
Take back the money put to illegal aliens legal fees, and put all that towards the elderly and disabled US citizens!!! Problem solved!°
Protect our community’s! Protect our hospital’s, Medicaid, and our lives!
Wait….didn’t NY-21 vote for this? They elected Elise Stefanik and voted for Trump (R +10).
Own it.
I don’t see anyone who voted for this complaining
Medicare is being cut for able bodied 18-40 year olds who don’t feel feel like working. If they work a minimum of 80 hours a month they get health care. I don’t want to pay for lazy people. NYS spends more on Medicare than Texas and Florida combined with a third of the population. New York – The Giveaway State.
When trying to defend the cruel and malicious cuts to Medicaid, it doesn’t reflect well on your argument to repeatedly and mistakenly refer to Medicaid as “Medicare.”
“Cruel and malicious”? Have you even looked at where the cuts are for yourself or do you just listen to the liberal politicians that buy votes with it and, service providers that have manipulated the payment structure to maximize their revenues? Medicaid and Medicare, there’s so much abuse in both so they are interchangeable.
Republicans have for decades railed against “red tape” and “bureaucratic paperwork,” especially when it comes to businesses complying with government regulations.
But now, these hypocrites are applying the red tape they say they hate so much to health care for the vulnerable, solely to provide for tax cuts for the well-off and wealthy. They’ll make it impossible for many eligible Medicaid recipients to receive the benefits they’re entitled to. But that’s the point — to kick eleible Medicaid recipients off the program.
Despicable.
Red tape of proper vetting to determine need? Time for able bodied people to get to work! Why were there so many people not go back to work after the COVID facade? Because they didn’t have to.
Fear mongering. “ the world is ending” line once again. It’s all just stoking fear, in order to generate enthusiasm for her base. Wait a few years and see what happens.
Trump should change his campaign slogan from “America First” to “Wealthy America First.”
How lucky we are ,the Queen Hochul graced us with her presence , What’s she doing ,looking for new ideas on what jobs to take from the North Country next ,Or how to tax us more to help lay for the Downstate even more .? She’s better off staying in Albany and south of the thruway ,We have enough of a problem with the No show Sefanick up here let alone both vying for our Votes so they can forget about us after the elections
Gov. Hochul has not increased taxes in New York State. In fact, her administration has focused on providing tax relief to residents. Here are some key points regarding her recent fiscal policies:
— No Increase in Income Taxes: Gov. Hochul’s Fiscal Year 2026 Executive Budget does not include any increases in income taxes. Instead, it emphasizes maintaining a balanced budget while supporting New Yorkers.
— Tax Cuts for Middle-Class: The budget includes plans to cut taxes for over 75 percent of tax filers in New York, aiming to provide financial relief,
— Tax Relief Initiatives: Recently, Governor Hochul announced that nearly 3 million New Yorkers would receive $2.2 billion in tax relief during the summer and fall.
— Focus on Affordability: The budget aims to put nearly $5,000 back in the pockets of New York families, reflecting a commitment to affordability without raising taxes.
Overall, Governor Hochul’s recent actions indicate a focus on tax relief rather than tax increases.
2.2 billion in tax relief?? Is that through those $500 checks she is going to send everyone?? Which will be taxed as a bonus at about 37% so you maybe get $275. Oh boy, I can’t wait. How about lowering taxes so the state doesn’t end up with a 2.2 billion surplus to give back to the residents.
This is almost verbatim from her propaganda. Nice Job! If we got people off from the liberal hand out programs and back to work, business would do better and the tax base would increase. See how that works? CAPITALISM! Yes business owners would better but so would the people that work for them.