May 11, 2025

Update on Congressional State-of-Play:

All on their own, Senate and House Republican Majorities are trying to craft and pass a “budget reconciliation bill” that will frame spending and tax policies over the next 10 years. They are not negotiating any policy provisions or dollar amounts with Minority Democrats in either chamber. There are slim majorities in each chamber, so Majority leaders need every vote they can get within their own conferences. There are differing factions with significantly different goals within each chamber’s Majority, and between each chamber’s Majorities, and they don’t trust each other.

The result is that there is no agreement yet among Majority Republicans with regard to the particulars of any spending increases and cuts to make, tax cuts to offer, and debt amount to increase and authorize. During the coming week, the three main House committees of jurisdiction –Agriculture (food programs),  Energy & Commerce (Medicaid), and Ways and Means – are scheduled to release their proposals by Monday afternoon and vote on them on Tuesday afternoon, a very ambitious goal. House Speaker Johnson continues to state that the House will debate and vote on a final combined bill by the following week of May 19-22, before their upcoming Memorial Day recess.

Meanwhile, late last week the Trump administration released its own set of budget proposals for the coming federal fiscal year (starts on Oct. 1^st) that calls for deep spending cuts and doesn’t cleanly align with what Congress is aiming to do. In addition, the Treasury Dept. just announced that Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling by mid-July or risk government default.

Here’s a partial list of opportunities to participate in advocacy designed to send a message to key members of the NYS Congressional delegation to turnback draconian cuts and to stand up for Medicaid and the ACA:

• Long Island — Mon. May 12; Rally and Medicaid Letter Delivery Relays outside the local district offices of Rep. Nick LaLota (NY-1) in Hauppauge at 11:30 a.m., and Rep. Andrew Garbarino (NY-2) in Patchogue at 1 p.m. Both events will be connected by a car caravan cortege from one location to the other, led by an electronic billboard truck.
• NYC – Wed. May 14, 4-5 p.m.; Community Speak-Outs and Story-Sharing outside the local district offices of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (NY-11) in Brooklyn and on Staten Island. Choose one of these locations to come tell your story and perspective about Medicaid and the ACA, and listen to what others have to say! These are always very moving and motivating events.
• Lower Hudson Valley, — Mon. May 12, 6 pm; Community Town Hall with Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado at St. Charles AME Zion Church in Sparkill (432 Valentine Ave.), hosted by Indivisible Rockland and other partners; full details here

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UPCOMING NYS COUNCIL WEBINARS 

(NO REGISTRATION NECESSARY. WE WILL SEND ZOOM LINKS TO ALL MEMBERS ON TUESDAY, 5/13)

Navigating Change: Communications Considerations for Today’s Shifting Policy Landscape

Facilitators:  Amanda Maynord, CEO, Dana Coleman, Vice President, Lovell Communications (an HMA Company)

May 15, 9:15 – 10:15

Health care organizations today are facing unprecedented changes as a result of federal policy shifts that impact everything from how you communicate to your ability to remain viable as funding sources are threatened.  Join us for a conversation with crisis and change management communications experts from HMA Lovell Communications to understand what you need to consider in these turbulent times, how to approach decision-making about your communications and the impact on key stakeholders.

Planning for Uncertainty

Facilitators:  Josh Rubin, Principal, and Cara Henley, Managing Principal, Health Management Associates (HMA)

May 23, 9:15 -10:15

The change in federal administration has ushered in a level of uncertainty for community behavioral health providers that is unprecedented. Agency leaders need to figure out how to prepare for whatever is coming in an environment with little reliable information about what is going to happen next. HMA’s Cara Henley and Josh Rubin will walk NYSCCBH members through a process designed to enable you to identify your areas of greatest risk, develop contingency plans for preparing for changes in federal policy and/or funding, and plan to mitigate the impact of changes that do come. 

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Note from Lauri:

I am honored to share that I’ve been selected to receive the Behavioral Health Advocacy Award at the upcoming MHNE 2025 Leadership Awards Reception, taking place on Wednesday, May 21st at 12:00 PM at the NYU Kimmel Center in New York City.

I will be accepting this award on behalf of the NYS Council and all of our members who tirelessly fight for the resources and tools we need to serve tens of thousands of New Yorkers each day, and to keep the promises we have made to our local communities.   

This is also an opportunity to honor the important work of Ira and David Minot —founders of Mental Health News. I hope you will consider supporting the event.

The afternoon will begin with a networking reception and buffet lunch, followed by an awards presentation honoring several of our inspiring colleagues. You can visit MHNE.org/Awards to learn more about my fellow honorees and to purchase sponsorships, tickets, journal ads, and more in support of MHNE’s mission—improving lives and care delivery for the autism and behavioral health communities.

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Received 5/9/25 from OASAS:

Dear Part 822 Comprehensive Outpatient Program Services Providers and Regional Office Program Managers,

An important update to the Part 822 Comprehensive Outpatient Program Services Request to Not Apply Surplus Revenues can be viewed here: https://oasas.ny.gov/part-822-comprehensive-outpatient-services-request-not-apply-surplus-revenues

The update provides further information on Part 822 Comprehensive Outpatient Providers ability to request not to apply surplus revenues or retain unspent State Aid for up to two consecutive fiscal years beginning with the year of certification. Surplus revenues or unspent State Aid must be used for Part 822 Comprehensive Outpatient Program purposes.

Thank you,

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:Received today from 5/9/25:

Dear Part 820 Residential Program Providers and Regional Office Program Managers,

An important update to the Part 820 Residential Services Request to Not Apply Surplus Revenues can be viewed here: https://oasas.ny.gov/providers/part-820-residential-services-request-not-apply-surplus-revenues

The update provides further information on Part 820 Residential Services Providers ability to request not to apply surplus revenues or retain unspent State Aid for up to three consecutive fiscal years beginning with the year of certification. Surplus revenues or unspent State Aid must be used for Part 820 Residential Services Program purposes.

Thank you,

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New York Times, 5/9/2025

Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump Plans for Mass Layoffs and Program Closures

A federal judge on Friday called for a two-week pause in the Trump administration’s plans for mass layoffs and program closures, barring two dozen agencies from moving forward with the largest phase of the president’s downsizing efforts, which the judge said was illegal without congressional authorization.

Of all the lawsuits challenging President Trump’s vision to dramatically scale back the form and function of the federal government, this one is poised to have the broadest effect. Most of the agencies have yet to announce their downsizing plans, but employees across the government have been anxiously waiting for announcements that have been expected for weeks.

Ruling just hours after an emergency hearing on Friday, Judge Susan Illston of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of California said the government’s effort to lay off workers and shut down offices and programs created an urgent threat to scores of critical services.

Congress set up a specific process for the federal government to reorganize itself. The unions and organizations behind the lawsuit have argued that the president does not have the authority to make those decisions without the legislative branch.

Judge Illston noted that process requires consultation with Congress on any plan to abolish or transfer part of an agency.

“It is the prerogative of presidents to pursue new policy priorities and to imprint their stamp on the federal government,” she wrote in a 42-page order. “But to make large-scale overhauls of federal agencies, any president must enlist the help of his coequal branch and partner, the Congress.”

Judge Illston listed services that could disappear if the offices that administer them were wiped out, including disaster relief funds for farmers after a flood, in-person appointments for Social Security recipients to discuss their benefits, workplace safety inspections in mines and grants that support kindergarten programs.

The scenario evoked what already happened at the Department of Health and Human Services — when mass layoffs caused major disruptions to programs — but on a larger scale. The deep cuts there indirectly hampered programs such as one that helps low-income families afford heating bills, and another that helps states track rates of chronic disease and gun violence.

While unions and other organizations have sued the federal government over other personnel actions, including indiscriminately firing thousands of probationary workers earlier this year, this is the first time such a broad coalition came together to challenge the administration’s actions. The plaintiffs in the ambitious lawsuit included labor unions, nonprofits and six cities and counties — including Baltimore, Chicago, San Francisco and Harris County, Texas, home to Houston.

“The Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to reorganize the federal government has thrown agencies into chaos, disrupting critical services provided across our nation,” the coalition said in a joint statement. “Each of us represents communities deeply invested in the efficiency of the federal government — laying off federal employees and reorganizing government functions haphazardly does not achieve that.”

The lawsuit, which was filed last week, is the latest in a progression of challenges that have all focused on the erosion of the federal civil service since President Trump took office.

It chronicled a steady effort to gut agencies in recent months, which it said has not only harmed tens of thousands of federal workers and their families, but also the residents of the cities and counties involved, as critical health services, veterans’ benefits, environmental protections and disaster relief assistance have lapsed or been thrown into doubt.

At particular issue are the looming “reductions in force,” which represent the biggest piece of Mr. Trump’s government downsizing efforts. Earlier this year, his administration fired thousands of probationary employees. But the current phase is expected to cut hundreds of thousands.

Agencies were given guidance and a brief timeline to complete plans for this reorganization earlier this year. The government has done reorganizations this way before, but never on such a huge scale and on such a short timeline.

By April 14, agencies were to send their final plans to the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget, which were providing guidance. Some agencies announced initial layoffs even before the deadline.

The Department of Health and Human Services, for example, fired 10,000 employees in early April. In some cases, it shuttered entire offices and shut down programs. Employees were placed on administrative leave and locked out of their equipment immediately.

Employees at other agencies have been dreading the upcoming announcements and have received minimal information about who will be affected. In order to meet the White House’s demands for cuts, some agencies have been offering resignation incentives, which are currently being reviewed and processed. The additional reductions in force will be decided after agency leaders have a better sense of where there are vacancies after the pressured resignations and early retirements.

To supplement the lawsuit, lawyers filed some 1,300 pages of sworn statements from local health providers, housing inspectors, law enforcement and firefighters, and others documenting the ways cuts to federal government have impacted their life and work.

During Friday’s hearing, Eric Hamilton, an attorney from the Justice Department, contended that the coalition of groups behind the lawsuit was legally problematic, because the unionized workers facing layoffs and the nonprofits and local governments bearing the brunt of federal services being cut were in separate “categories,” with obviously distinct harms.

Mr. Hamilton added that Mr. Trump’s power to reorganize federal agencies is expansive and that the executive orders he had signed mandating changes were generally beyond the authority of the court to review.

Danielle Leonard, a lawyer representing the groups that sued, said the Trump administration’s vision was to fundamentally degrade the services that Congress funds agencies to carry out, raising a profound separation of powers conflict, as Congress set up a specific process for the federal government to reorganize itself.

“There’s a presumption of regularity that used to exist with respect to the government’s actions that I think they need to re-earn,” she said.

Ms. Leonard said the Trump administration has never been able to point to any specific authority through which the president could seize that power from Congress. And she said that the government has consistently offered competing and contradictory explanations of why Mr. Trump can authorize the massive restructuring without Congress.

“It’s an ouroboros: the snake eating its tail,” she said.

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Could Branding Herself as a ‘Mom Governor’ Help Hochul Win Re-election?

New York Times, May 11,2025

By Grace Ashford and Benjamin Oreskes

When Gov. Kathy Hochul first took office in 2021, she was a relative unknown. Few New Yorkers knew how to pronounce her name, let alone what Ms. Hochul, Andrew M. Cuomo’s seldom-seen lieutenant governor, stood for.

Since then, she has honed an executive style that is equal parts practical and protective. And while many elements inform her politics — her Buffalo roots, her Catholic faith, her business-friendly sensibility — perhaps none is more central than her role as a mother.

“Does anybody not know I’m a mom?” Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, joked at an appearance last week to celebrate her most attention-grabbing win in this year’s budget: a bell-to-bell ban on cellphones in schools. “I say it every single day: I’ve been a mom longer than I’ve been a governor.”

She built on this message in an op-ed published on Friday by Fox News, invoking her status as New York’s “first mom governor” to pledge her commitment to protecting children.

“We’re taking back our classrooms and giving kids their childhoods back,” she wrote.

The message, and her choice of a conservative news outlet to deliver it, was a striking example of how Ms. Hochul has embraced a kind of “family values” approach more in line with the Republican Party of the 1990s than with the Democratic Party of the 2020s.

Indeed, in crafting the cell phone regulations, the Hochul administration found itself looking to Republican-led states like Louisiana and Florida. Last year, when the governor embarked on a push to restrict social media companies, New York followed the lead of Utah, where the push to restrict children’s media led to the banning of books by Margaret Atwood, Rupi Kaur and Judy Blume.

Ms. Hochul is expected to face a difficult re-election challenge next year, with potential candidates from both parties considering taking her on. They include Democrats like Representative Richie Torres and Ms. Hochul’s lieutenant governor, Antonio Delgado, and Republicans like Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, and Representative Mike Lawler.

Representative Elise Stefanik, a close ally of President Trump, has also expressed interest in running, and could be a particularly formidable adversary, pitting Ms. Hochul’s Democratic conservatism against the fractious energy of Mr. Trump’s MAGA movement.

Ms. Stefanik criticized Ms. Hochul’s $254 billion budget for not doing enough to address violent crime, calling it a “desperate attempt to shore up a politically weakened and toxic governor.”

Ms. Hochul also has detractors in her own party. Her tendency to align herself with business interests and law enforcement irks some Democrats, while some state lawmakers grumble about her “because I said so” negotiating style.

Facing middling poll numbers and a persistent perception of weakness, Ms. Hochul has sometimes sought a foil in Mr. Trump, issuing stern condemnations of his policies and his attempts to eliminate congestion pricing.

Against that backdrop, it is perhaps notable that Ms. Hochul has sought to humanize her image, asking for voters to see her as a mother. Her team insists that the maternal instinct underscores her vision of what a governor should be: someone who keeps New Yorkers safe, with a roof over their head; someone who makes sure that their children eat breakfast, and who keeps those children from texting in class.

In a state where more than a quarter of voters are not registered with either major party, Ms. Hochul knows she will most likely need to win support from people who may be turned off by politics but are open to hearing from a “mom governor.”

The instinct is written across Ms. Hochul’s legislative priorities, from affordability to public safety.

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This year, she pushed to make it easier for the police to remove people having mental health episodes from public spaces, built on her efforts to make New York’s bail law stricter, and gave prosecutors more leeway in turning over evidence to defense lawyers.

Her protective instincts are also visible in her cautious approach to the state’s finances and investment in reserves, which have reached their highest level in years. (This year, she will tap into those savings, to pay off businesses roughly $7 billion in Covid-era unemployment insurance debt, amid fears of a recession.)

But her maternal worldview is perhaps most evident in Ms. Hochul’s use of the state budget to pass initiatives tied to children’s well being. She expanded the child tax credit to $1,000 for children under 4, and allocated enough money to offer free breakfast and lunch for students from kindergarten through high school.

Last year, the governor regulated the use of so-called addictive algorithms that target children, and created a privacy provision that prevented social media companies from collecting children’s personal data.

Ms. Hochul has framed her actions in broad, parent-friendly terms, saying it is a moral imperative to address the increase in mental illness and the degradation of attention.

Yet in one key matter, Ms. Hochul decided against using her influence to compel private schools to provide a basic education. Instead, she included budget language to weaken state oversight over private schools.  Ms. Hochul defended the move as necessary to preserve religious freedom in New York. The change was a priority of ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic legislators representing yeshivas, which collect millions of taxpayer dollars but do not always provide a basic secular education.

The change was panned by Ms. Hochul’s own education commissioner as well as many Democratic lawmakers, who called it a politically motivated betrayal of the state’s responsibility to children.

On the Senate floor, Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, called the provision “antisemitic” in that it would deprive Jewish children of a basic education, adding that the change could lead to greater erosion in education.

“With this change in law, we’re actually saying here in New York, if you define yourself as a religious school and you aren’t meeting our most basic, sub-minimal standards for actual education, come on down,” Ms. Krueger said.

But in New York’s ultra-Orthodox communities, a potentially crucial demographic for Ms. Hochul come 2026, the move was celebrated as helping to secure “freedom of education.”