March 1, 2024
Dear Friends,
Since day one of this Congress and the second Trump administration, President Trump and his GOP allies have pursued a single, ruthless goal: enacting massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors by slashing critical services for working families. This week, House Republicans put that scheme — which has been years in the making — into action by passing a budget resolution calling for $2.5 trillion in cuts to essential federal programs, including $880 billion in Medicaid cuts.
At the same time, unelected billionaire Elon Musk is using his so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, to make an end run around our constitutional system — illegally shutting down entire federal departments and firing thousands of dedicated public servants who work every day to keep our communities healthy and safe. These cruel, calculated attacks on our federal agencies and the people they serve must not be allowed to stand — and I’m fighting back with everything I’ve got.
Earlier this year, I asked to be appointed to the House Budget Committee, where I’m working alongside my Democratic colleagues to ensure our federal budget reflects our values and addresses the needs of working families. Sadly, the Republican budget framework is nothing less than a betrayal of those very families — slashing trillions from the services they rely on in order to bankroll trillions more in tax cuts for the wealthy. The GOP’s proposed cuts are targeted squarely at our most vulnerable communities, putting vast numbers of children, seniors, and people with disabilities at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage.
These reckless cuts are more than just numbers on a page — they threaten the lives and livelihoods of real people across America. Medicaid insures more than 192,000 individuals in our Capital Region alone, including 77,000 children, 22,000 seniors, and 18,000 kids with disabilities who rely on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for specialized care and support services. As Republicans push to finalize their scheme over the coming weeks, you can bet I’ll be there to fight them every step of the way.
Many of my Republican colleagues are already facing strong backlash to their proposals. At town hall meetings across the nation, ordinary Americans have shown up in droves to remind their representatives that they work for them, not for the President and his billionaire backers. But instead of fulfilling their obligation to advocate for their constituents, Republicans have chosen to abdicate their constitutional responsibilities entirely and hand the reins of government over to Elon Musk — whose haphazard campaign of layoffs and senseless destruction is already hurting federal workers and the millions of people they serve.
Earlier this week, I launched a survey on my website to give my constituents a platform to share their stories about being fired, furloughed, or otherwise affected by Musk’s reckless purge of our federal agencies. As Musk and his DOGE team seek to eliminate 75 percent of the entire federal workforce, I want to learn more about how these layoffs are directly impacting you and our communities. The stories I’ve already heard are nothing short of horrifying.
On Wednesday night, I took to the House floor to tell the story of a scientist at an FDA lab who was fired from their job inspecting food for allergens, pesticides, and dangerous pathogens like E. coli and listeria. Another constituent was laid off from their position as a hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, where they helped build compound flood models to help our communities plan for superstorm events and minimize damages. DOGE’s cuts have also caused wide-ranging impacts around the world, as their illegal shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has forced the closure of AIDS clinics for some 20 million people worldwide and left nearly $500 million of already-allocated food aid rotting in ports, ships, and warehouses across the globe.
These stories clearly show that this campaign of draconian cuts and mass firings is not and has never been about “efficiency.” It is about creating an environment of chaos, fear, and confusion that undermines the essential work of our federal agencies while funneling tax breaks directly into the pockets of the wealthiest people on Earth. But instead of standing up for working families, Congressional Republicans have handed the keys to our government to two men who have never once had to worry about making ends meet. I, for one, will never stop fighting for the working people of our Capital Region and beyond — because our government belongs to the people, not to billionaires and their enablers.
As always, thank you for reading.
Your friend,
DID YOU KNOW?
My office and I are working to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates, announcements, and recommendations from governments and agencies. With that in mind, here is some information that may be of interest to you:
- The Social Security Fairness Act, signed into law in January, ended the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO) that had previously reduced Social Security benefits for more than 3.2 million people.
- This law will increase Social Security benefits for many types of workers, including certain teachers, firefighters, police officers, and federal employees.
- Starting last week, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is beginning to pay retroactive benefits and will begin increasing monthly benefit payments to those whose benefits were previously impacted under the old law.
- Beneficiaries should wait until April to inquire about the status of their retroactive payments, as these will be processed throughout March.
- The Social Security Administration has released a FAQ about the Social Security Fairness Act, which you can find HERE.
