July 1, 2025

ADVOCACY REQUEST

The Senate is expected to vote TODAY on the GOP tax bill. Once this happens, we need to focus back on House Republicans urging them to vote NO on the bill that is sent back to the House from the Senate, and to demand a bill that protects Medicaid, food assistance, housing assistance, Essential Plan health insurance options, etc.  House members are returning to Washington today to prepare for receipt of the bill once the Senate has voted.  We need to bombard targeted NYS House Republicans in advance of the bill returning to the House for further action. 

If your organization is located in one of the NYS Republican districts we have been targeting throughout this journey, (see the information at the link right below), a group of statewide organizations representing mental health and substance use disorder organizations, including the NYS Council, has compiled mental health and substance use disorder impact data specific to the representative’s district.

Linked here is a list of the targeted Republican House members and 2 template letters.  Please submit your correspondence to the lawmaker using the Representative’s online contact form.  This is the most expedient way to send your correspondence.  Note:   There is one sentence in parentheses to include your agency’s impact data. If you do not have the data, please remove that and submit the letter without your agency’s specific data.

Please contact us if you have any questions. Lauri is always available to you at 518 461-8200. 

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FEDERAL NEWS AND INFORMATION

At 2 a.m. this morning, Majority Leader John Thune sped up ongoing debate on amendments to the Senate Reconciliation bill that is expected to lead to a vote on the bill sometime today.  Some Senators took a break this morning to watch the sunrise from the Capitol.  

Senators are nearly 24 hours into the vote-a-rama process that began at 9:45 a.m. yesterday.  Vote A Rama is meant to be a lengthy process, and in this case Senate Dems are using it to buy time while they work to secure support against various provisions. However most of the amendments brought by Senate Dems to this point have failed.  

Republicans still on the fence include Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) while absolute ‘no’s include Republican Senator Tom Tillis (who announced his retirement on Sunday after he endured an extended online bullying session from President Trump where Trump told Tillis he was meeting with potential candidates who could primary Tillis in the midterm elections), and Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin).  

(Politico, 7/1)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s ability to pass the “big, beautiful bill” is hinging on Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

The Alaska senator has been the subject of an intense whip effort by GOP leaders over the past couple of hours as they try to offer her reassurances on Medicaid and food assistance. Thune, Finance Chair Mike Crapo and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso talked to Murkowski on the floor for roughly an hour overnight. Thune and Murkowski huddled briefly in his office, and they were mum on details when they emerged shortly before 4 a.m.

Just moments ago, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that proposed SNAP carve-outs for Alaska and other states are compliant with the Byrd rule, Jordain reports. But Republicans have struggled to get approval for a Medicaid provision also aimed at Murkowski’s home state.

Murkowski is also among the Republicans who have been pushing an amendment to undo the rollback of clean-energy credits under the Biden-era climate law.

Thune insisted to reporters moments ago that senators were closing in on the end of their vote-a-rama.

“We’re close,” he said, adding that they have a few more amendments from senators and a final so-called wraparound amendment to come.

In a potential sign of just how dire Thune’s whip count was looking in the wee hours, the majority leader huddled in his office with Sen. Rand Paul, who’s long said he would be a “no” on the bill over its debt-ceiling hike.

Another big unknown right now is where Sen. Susan Collins will fall. The Maine senator reminded us less than two hours ago that she’s “said all along that I have concerns with the bill” and also reiterated, when prompted by reporters, that she would have preferred breaking out the tax portion of the policy package on a separate track. Certainly not helping win Collins over: Her bid to boost money for rural hospitals went up in flames.

And major policy fights remain unresolved, including Sen. Rick Scott’s divisive amendment to scale back federal payments under the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Scott has leadership’s support on this one and said he expects it to pass. But several GOP senators have openly raised concerns with it.

SNAP

Republican leadership still has July 4 circled as the deadline for passing their policy megabill, which includes a major overhaul of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — the nation’s largest food aid program, which assists over 40 million Americans.

The GOP’s plan would push some SNAP costs onto states for the first time. But Democratic governors are warning that would be a significant hit on their budgets and could lead to welfare cuts.

Meanwhile, the fiscal year 2026 agriculture funding bill, which advanced out of the House Appropriations Committee in June, would reduce USDA’s and FDA’s budgets by 4 percent. The bill, which is headed to a full floor vote, would also cut funding for an initiative that helps families purchase fruits and vegetables, and slash money for conservation programs for farmers.

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Very big bill

The Senate is still debating a key part of President Trump’s domestic agenda this morning — what he has called his big, beautiful bill. Senators are racing to pass it before the July 4 deadline.

By now, you have probably heard two things about the proposal. First, it would cut taxes in a way that would largely benefit the wealthiest Americans. Second, to recoup some of that lost revenue, it would cut health care programs, particularly Medicaid, and would leave nearly 12 million more Americans uninsured over 10 years.

Those parts are important, but they are far from the only elements in the sprawling 940-page bill. The legislation also touches on food stamps, clean energy, mass deportations, student loans, military spending and more. Today, I’ll explain some of those less discussed provisions.

The other pieces

Because this bill is foremost about the federal budget, it goes through a special procedure — called reconciliation — that lets the Senate pass it with a simple majority, no filibuster allowed. Republican lawmakers have therefore treated this as a rare opportunity to accomplish a bunch of different priorities.

Food stamp cuts: The bill would cut SNAP, the food aid program that 40 million people use, by about 20 percent. It would make work requirements stricter and ask states to pick up more of the cost. The work requirements alone would likely eliminate millions of people from SNAP’s rolls. Millions of others would likely have their benefits reduced. And depending on how states react to the cuts, those reductions could end up being even steeper.

Supporters argue that these measures are needed to save money and to reduce what they see as Americans’ dependence on government programs. Critics of the cuts say that they will translate to more hunger and poverty, disproportionately hurting the working class.

Clean energy disinvestment: The bill would roll back policies that support clean energy. That includes tax credits for solar and wind projects, as well as credits that help Americans buy heat pumps and electric cars. It would even impose a new tax on clean energy projects.

Republicans, many of whom deny the science of climate change, have characterized these subsidies as giveaways to an industry that doesn’t deserve support if it can’t survive on its own. Critics of the proposal, including Elon Musk, say the tax credits are needed not just to address climate change but also to give an important U.S. industry a fighting chance against its heavily subsidized Chinese counterpart.

Funding for deportations: Trump says he needs more money to carry out mass deportations, and the legislation would make sure he has it. New funding would support building more of the wall along the southern border, adding more border surveillance and constructing more prisons, among other measures.

Less student loan relief: The bill would eliminate some of the more generous student loan repayment programs and limit the federal government’s ability to provide relief. The bill’s backers say the changes shift the burden of student debt off taxpayers, most of whom have not graduated from college, back onto the people who took out the loans. Opponents say the changes will keep people in debt longer and force more of them to default.

More military spending: The legislation would add funds for shipbuilding, munitions, Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense system and other Pentagon initiatives.

And much more: The proposal would create tax-advantaged savings accounts for newborns, called “Trump accounts,” that would start with $1,000 in government contributions. It would increase money for air traffic control and the Secret Service. And it would help pay for America’s 250th anniversary celebrations next year.

To see all of the provisions — there are nearly 300 — check out this list that my colleagues have put together, which explains everything in the bill and how much it would cost or save.

What’s next

It’s still not clear whether the bill, as it currently stands, will become law. Senators need to vote on their version, and then it will go back to the House for final passage. Republicans control the House by a thinner margin than they do the Senate, and a few defectors could complicate things. Still, Trump has demanded they pass it — and Republicans have not bucked the president much since his return to office.

How much is $3.3 trillion?

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump’s domestic policy bill will add at least $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. That number is so large that it’s difficult for most people to comprehend. Our writer Evan Gorelick did the math.

Say you start playing the lottery the day you’re born. If you somehow managed to win every game in every U.S. state, every single day — we’re talking everything from scratch-offs to Powerball jackpots — it would still take you around 75 years to rack up $3.3 trillion (assuming, of course, that you pay taxes on your winnings).

Here are five other ways to think about $3.3 trillion:

More on the bill

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City & State – Opinion Column from Community Service Society, 7/1

Opinion: GOP’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ will savage NY’s health care system, budget and economy

The GOP bill would leave 1.5 million New Yorkers uninsured, cut hospital funding by $3 billion and blow a $13.5 billion hole in the state budget.

New York GOP Reps. Mike Lawler, Anthony D’Esposito and Nick LaLota all voted in favor of the “One Beautiful Bill” that will cut health care

for New York. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

BY DAVID R. JONES

JUNE 30, 2025

It’s quite astonishing to think that we have reached a point in this extremely charged and partisan political environment where members of Congress would decline to protect their own constituents in unashamed deference to party politics. 

Yet, that’s exactly where we are, and that’s exactly what happened in New York. 

On May 22, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to gut Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, leaving millions without health insurance and ravaging state budgets across the country. Any of the seven New York Republican members of Congress had the power to stop this bill, which passed by a one-vote margin, but none did. 

In effect, they all voted in favor of egregious cuts to public health coverage for seniors, people with disabilities and low-income children and families in their congressional districts. All except Rep. Andrew Garbarino, that is, who reportedly slept through the vote. 

Make no mistake, the GOP’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that was voted out of the House and is now with the U.S. Senate is a poison pill for New York. Perhaps deliberately so, given the animus the GOP has shown for blue states with large urban centers and diverse populations. 

Consider this: New Yorkers would make up more than 10% (1.5 million) of the 16 million Americans at risk of becoming uninsured due to federal threats to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The University of Pennsylvania estimates these cuts will lead to over 42,000 excess deaths annually.

The cuts in the bill will devastate New York’s health care system, budget, and economy. If the bill is passed as-is, 1.5 million New Yorkers will become uninsured, a $13.5 billion hole will be left in the state budget, hospital funding will be cut by $3 billion and marketplace premiums will rise by 38%, or $2,700 a year for a couple. 

The Essential Plan, New York’s basic health plan, includes comprehensive benefits with no monthly premium or deductible for 1.6 million New Yorkers with incomes below 250% of the federal poverty line. Lawfully present New York low-income residents are eligible for Essential Plan coverage. However, under the One Big Beautiful Bill, approximately 500,000 of the lowest-income lawful immigrants would have to move from Essential Plan coverage to Medicaid plans funded solely by the state, costing New York around $2.7 billion. Around 225,000 lawfully present New York residents with slightly higher incomes would lose coverage entirely and become uninsured. 

Congress has a bullseye on New York. In addition to eviscerating the state’s health care coverage landscape as we know it, the reconciliation bill would leave three million New Yorkers at risk of losing SNAP benefits, decimating the longstanding federal-state partnership and leaving New York with another $2.1 billion annual hole in its budget.

It’s possible New York GOP members either did not read or did not understand what they were voting for, as the bill was rushed to the floor for a vote. That would partially explain why earlier this month, after the House passed the bill, five Republican members representing New York issued a letter to a top member of the U.S. Senate finance committee detailing how the bill (which is formally known as H.R. 1) would disproportionately harm New York and gut New York’s Essential Plan.

Late last week, the Senate’s parliamentarian issued a ruling on several provisions within the Senate’s version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act. Essentially, the parliamentarian found that multiple health-related provisions included in the Senate Finance Committee’s text were in violation of the Senate’s reconciliation rules and would thereby subject the bill to a 60-vote point of order rather than a simple majority vote.

Over the weekend, Senate Republicans navigated around this obstacle by ignoring the parliamentarian and employing some questionable mathematics to conceal the full cost of the tax cuts in the Senate version of the bill, all so they could advance it to the full Senate, which they did, and avoid a filibuster from Senate Democrats. It’s worth noting that Senate Republicans have called for even deeper cuts to Medicaid than House Republicans.

At this point, it’s unclear when the bill will return to the House. When it does, New York’s seven Republican members of Congress will have a second chance to stand up for New York and protect the state and their constituents from these devastating cuts.

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STATE NEWS AND INFORMATION

Medicaid Transportation Issue

The state attorney general said companies across the state had overcharged millions from Medicaid funds. 

Albany Times Union, 7/1/25

GIFT ARTICLE HERE:

https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/transport-companies-pay-13m-defrauding-medicaid-20401287.php?utm_content=hed&sid=5a50f820e9a8a2de4b8b5780&ss=A&st_rid=579ecdb3-b7d0-411b-aa60-28e2c1bc8408&utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_term=headlines&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGltZXN1bmlvbi5jb20vY2FwaXRvbC9hcnRpY2xlL3RyYW5zcG9ydC1jb21wYW5pZXMtcGF5LTEzbS1kZWZyYXVkaW5nLW1lZGljYWlkLTIwNDAxMjg3LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc1MTM3MjA5NzkwNg%3D%3D&rid=NTc5ZWNkYjMtYjdkMC00MTFiLWFhNjAtMjhlMmMxYmM4NDA4&sharecount=MA%3D%3D

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