November 15, 2025
Dear Friends,
This week, House Republicans finally came back to work to end the longest government shutdown in American history — an unprecedented failure of governance caused by the GOP’s own refusal to address the rising cost of health care. During the 43 days of this Republican shutdown, I heard from constituents across my district who urged me to keep fighting to protect their access to affordable care. But regrettably, the so-called “deal” advanced this week does absolutely nothing to move us closer to that goal.
Over the past several weeks, Republicans have repeatedly refused to extend critical Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that help millions of Americans purchase low-cost health insurance. Without these subsidies, families across the nation will see their premiums skyrocket next year — in some cases by more than 400%. This is a crisis of Republicans’ own making, yet they failed to address it in their partisan bill to reopen the government. Instead, they offered only an empty promise to hold a Senate vote on the issue later this year — a promise that means little given Speaker Mike Johnson’s refusal to allow a similar vote in the House. Simply put, this spending bill is a slap in the face to the millions of Americans still struggling to afford health care and other basic necessities.
Adding insult to injury, Republicans once again put their backward priorities — protecting President Trump and enriching themselves — ahead of delivering affordable health care to our communities.
Senate Republicans couldn’t be bothered to include critical support for working Americans in their partisan spending bill — but they did sneak in a provision that could divert millions of taxpayer dollars directly into the pockets of a handful of GOP senators. This amendment, inserted as part of a last-minute backroom deal, would allow eight Republican senators who had their phone records subpoenaed as part of a recent Justice Department investigation to collect a $500,000 “cash bonus” by suing the government for damages. This is corruption, plain and simple. But this blatant self-dealing was not the only sinister motive driving Republicans’ actions over the past several weeks.
For nearly two months, dating back to before the GOP shutdown, Speaker Johnson kept House Republicans on a paid vacation in order to avoid swearing in newly elected Representative Adelita Grijalva of Arizona. Besides denying a voice to her constituents, Johnson’s ploy had another purpose — preventing a House vote to release the Justice Department’s files on child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Earlier this year, Republicans shut down the House for more than a month in order to shield Donald Trump from the potentially explosive revelations in the Epstein files. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that when Representative Grijalva promised to provide the decisive signature needed to force a floor vote on releasing the files, Speaker Johnson moved quickly to cover up for the President.
President Trump is clearly terrified of what this stockpile of documents might reveal about his associations with Epstein and his own involvement with the women and girls Epstein abused. This week, when it became clear that the Speaker could not delay Rep. Grijalva’s swearing-in any longer, the White House launched an intense pressure campaign against the few House Republicans who sided with Democrats to call for the release of the files. One member was even summoned to the White House Situation Room, where three senior Justice Department officials unsuccessfully begged her to back off her demands. This ham-handed abuse of power and this week’s disclosure of thousands of Epstein’s private emails — several of which mention the President explicitly — make it obvious that Trump and his cronies have something to hide.
The events of this past week have made the contrast between the two parties clearer than ever. While House Democrats continue the struggle to lower costs and protect your access to affordable health care, Republicans are focused only on lining their own pockets and shielding Donald Trump from accountability. The longer Congress delays in providing desperately needed relief for American families, the more pain will be felt by working Americans. That’s why I’ll always keep fighting to deliver vital support and resources to those who need them most.
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:
- As the 2026 open enrollment period gets underway, New York State officials are warning residents to be on the lookout for health insurance scams targeting consumers across the state.
- Scammers often take advantage of open enrollment periods to trick New Yorkers into purchasing fake insurance plans in order to steal consumers’ money and personal information.
- State officials are reminding consumers that work requirements and other new restrictions under the “Big, Ugly Bill” do not take effect until next year, and any messages that claim otherwise are likely scams.
- To help you avoid common scams, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Department of Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald have provided a series of tips and reminders, including:
- No one can ever charge you a fee to renew your health insurance in Medicaid, Child Health Plus, the Essential Plan, or a Qualified Health Plan.
- Government agencies will never threaten you, demand you pay money, or ask for credit information in a text message, email, or phone call.
- If you enrolled in health insurance through NY State of Health, many forms of assistance are available to help you renew for free. These include NY State of Health’s certified enrollment assistors and Customer Service Center representatives. You can find help at nystateofhealth.ny.gov or at 1-855-355-5777.
- If you enrolled in Medicaid through your county’s Medicaid office, there are also many forms of assistance available to you. You can contact the office where you enrolled to ask questions and get help with renewing your insurance.
- Click HERE for more tips and reminders!
