Hi friend,
A lot has been happening over the past week. We’ve seen Republicans ram through a bill to end the shutdown, despite nothing in it to address the staggering cost of health care. I also went on Jon Stewart’s show with my colleague Rep. Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania to talk about how the administration has failed our veterans. Separately, I spoke out about ICE overreach affecting the Hudson Valley.
Thank you for being in this fight alongside me.
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What’s going on
Hudson Valley
What I’m doing: This week, our community came together to demand justice for Ali Faqirzada, an Afghan asylum seeker and Ulster County resident who was detained by ICE despite following the legal process every step of the way. Ali is a hero. He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with our troops in Afghanistan, risking his life and his family’s safety to support the United States. To see him detained after all he’s sacrificed is wrong. It’s un-American.
My team has been working closely with Ali’s family, local leaders, and national advocates to push ICE for his immediate release. Sending him back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan would put his life in grave danger. We can’t allow that to happen. America must honor its promises to those who stood with us.
What you can do: Keep using your voice to call for Ali’s release. Post on social media, talk with your networks, and remind people what’s at stake. Our community rallied for him, and that energy matters. When we stand together, we make a difference.
New York
What I’m doing: This week, I sounded the alarm on a major threat to health care access in New York. Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, announced it will go out of network for all Fidelis/Wellcare and Cigna/HealthSpring plans. That decision will disrupt care for thousands of seniors, working families and Medicaid recipients. It’s the latest example of a massive corporation putting profits ahead of patients.
We’ve already documented serious problems at Optum-owned facilities, from declining quality to higher fees. That’s why I submitted our community survey directly to federal regulators and introduced the Patients Over Profits Act to crack down on these monopolies. And while families are scrambling to figure out how to keep seeing their doctors, the GOP just passed a budget that ignores skyrocketing health care costs entirely. Not one meaningful measure to lower premiums or prescription drug prices. Not one step to rein in conglomerates like UnitedHealth.
What you can do: Share this story with your networks and make sure people know what’s happening. And keep the pressure on Congress. Call, post, and speak out about the real harm caused when we let corporate giants control our health care. When we raise our voices together, we push lawmakers to act and protect patients across New York.
Washington
What I’m doing: I’ve ramped up the fight in Congress to protect fans from cable and streaming blackouts. This week, Disney pulled its channels from YouTube TV after another corporate standoff over licensing fees. That means families across the Hudson Valley suddenly lost access to ESPN, ABC, and other channels they already paid for. It’s outrageous, and it’s exactly why I introduced the Stop Sports Blackouts Act.
People work hard and are struggling to get by. They shouldn’t have to pay for the same service twice or scramble between platforms because mega-corporations can’t agree on a contract. We’ve seen this before: Optimum customers were blocked from watching the Knicks and Rangers for weeks. These companies will keep screwing fans until Congress steps in. I’m pushing to require full refunds anytime a provider shuts off channels. As I told the xxxxxx’s Tim Miller, If they don’t deliver the service people bought, they shouldn’t get to keep the money.
What you can do: If you’re fed up with these blackouts, make noise about it. Call your representative if you’re outside NY-18 and tell them to get behind the Stop Sports Blackouts Act. Post on social media. Tell your friends and neighbors what’s happening. The only way we beat back these corporate giants is by showing Congress that fans are done being pushed around.
Going on offense
On Veterans Day, I went on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show with my colleague and fellow veteran Rep. Chris Deluzio. We called out Trump for wrapping himself up in the flag yet screwing over veterans at every turn. As Jon Stewart said, “How the f*** does that compute?”
We need to replace MAGA’s false patriotism with a true patriotism, that fights for our veterans and for Americans who need help, not just for the 1% and Trump’s far-right agenda. That’s what I’m fighting for every day.
Keep the faith, keep up the fight, and thank you for reading!
In Solidarity,
Pat
