Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Holds Rally Alongside Representative Ritchie Torres Denouncing Federal Cuts to Health Care

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul joined U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres, local elected officials, doctors, and healthcare leaders to warn of the destructive ramifications of President Trump and Congressional Republicans’ “Big Ugly Bill” on New York State. The cuts imposed by Washington Republicans are expected to have a significant impact, with an anticipated nearly $13 billion affecting New Yorkers healthcare system. Additionally, approximately 1.5 million New Yorkers are projected to lose their health insurance coverage, while over 300,000 households are expected to lose some or all of their SNAP benefits.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will have photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you, Christina. Cristina Contreras, thank you for hosting us number one. But to all the members of the medical facility, the staff, the doctors, the nurses, support staff, administration — I just want to tell you how grateful we are, that all of you have dedicated your lives to bettering the health and outcomes for people in the South Bronx and all over. And to be the busiest ER in New York City, but the third busiest in the United States of America, is something that we should salute. Let's give them all a round of applause.

Cassaundra Howell, our Chief Operating Officer, I want to thank her. You'll also be hearing from one of our constituents here, Medicaid recipient, Ms. Martinez, who will be joining us in a few moments. All my partners in government, state officials have been recognized. I see you so often. City Councilmembers, we have Gail Brewer here I noticed probably some others, our City Councilmembers. My administration, many people from my administration are here, and all my partners. Also an individual who's a tireless fighter for the South Bronx and beyond. You are so blessed to have represent you in the powerful halls of Washington in Congress, your Congressman Ritchie Torres, let's give him another round of applause

Now I just have a few observations, and I'm from Buffalo, you're from the Bronx — let's just talk straight. What Republicans in Washington have done through the big ugliest bill I've ever seen, is literally screwing New Yorkers. I'm just telling you straight — there's no way to sugarcoat it. It's all bad. It's all bad. Now, let's count the number of people — 1.5 million New York residents will lose their health coverage through Medicaid. Those are our friends, our family, our neighbors. But let me just tell you the statistics here in the Bronx. Right here in the Bronx, 107,000 people will lose their coverage. You're all going to know somebody. Now, where are they going to go for health care without this insurance? Oh, they're still coming here, but there won't be any way to pay for that. Christina, what does that do to the health of a hospital like this? That's unsustainable. And we'll keep you strong, but sure as I'm standing here, there's going to be hospitals all over the State of New York that are going to close, especially in our rural areas.

For the North Country, those hospitals are already far apart. Imagine expecting a baby, your child's in a car accident, you need to get to a hospital and it's hours away because they had to close because of what Republicans, who even represent that district have done. That's what we have to contemplate. Now, let's talk about another issue that's so important — feeding children. This is America. We're a very rich country, right? We should at least be able to feed our babies. And I take this so personally. My daughter has a new baby, five weeks old yesterday. She sent me another picture today of her feeding the baby a little bottle. She doesn't have to worry about whether she can afford that formula, because we can take care of it.

But there's so many families across this great country who want to feed their children, but they're struggling. They didn't ask for a pandemic. They didn't ask for inflation. They didn't ask for tariffs to drive up the cost of everything. And by the way, what we were promised, lower prices day one of the Trump administration — no, no no, they're going way up.

So my daughter can take care of her baby, but families here in the Bronx are going to be struggling because they count on the SNAP programs that feed our children and our families. How cruel and depraved is it to not just take away a basic human right to have health care when you're sick and you need, but also say, “We don't give a damn if you go hungry either?”

Republicans in Washington have lost their soul, but here in New York, we have not lost our heart. We'll always care about people. We'll never give up on them. We'll fight back and we'll fight back hard.

But it is also disgraceful that New York State has seven Republican members of Congress whose job it is to go out there and fight for their constituents — some in suburban areas, some in very rural areas. Your job is to represent those people and not do the bidding of a dictator like Donald Trump. But what did they do? Oh, they rolled. They caved. They didn't even put up a fight. Now, one of them is actually running ads trying to persuade you how great this is. We're not stupid. We know the effects. There's no way you can say this is a good bill, it hurts people. And they missed their opportunity to show some profiles in courage. Any one of them could have stopped this from happening — any one. That’s all it took was one person to change their vote. They turned their backs on all of us.

So now what do we have to deal with? Massive cuts: $13.5 billion cuts to health care in the great State of New York. Millions will lose insurance, will lose nutrition programs, they'll even hurt Planned Parenthood programs, which in some parts of our state, that's the primary health care provider for women. They don't care. And I'm just ticking off a few of them here today because we're at a hospital, but the effects of everything else is absolutely devastating.

Now, I'm fighting hard. I've got my legislators. They know what we did. They helped me put money back in your pockets. We had a whole strategy last January, making New York more affordable because we know what's going on out there. People are working harder than ever before and they're falling further and further behind. And it's just not American.

It's not what people came here to this country for, or lived here, spent their lives here making it a great place. They always think the next generation is going to do a little better than the one before, but the generation today is stuck. The chance of homeownership is impossible. Trying to get their own apartment seems impossible. And this is not their fault. What we did was we said, “Let's figure out a path.” So families with children under the age of four, a thousand dollar tax credit for them starting in the next year, a thousand dollars. Older kids age four to 16, $500 in your pockets. It starts adding up for families. Let's put some money back in their pockets.

Also, because there's so many children that need assistance paying for school lunches — those kids are stigmatized. They stand out. Everybody knows that they're the ones with the parents who can't afford to feed them and so we have to. That creates a stigma for those children that lasts with them a lifetime. And why do I know that? I was out on Long Island talking about this, a Republican State Senator came up to me and he says,
“What you're doing by giving free lunches and breakfast to every child in the State of New York is transformational.”

And I was surprised to hear that. I said, “Why?”

He says, “I was that kid. I skipped lunch every day because I was too embarrassed to get in line for the kids with subsidized meals and you're changing people's lives, giving them dignity back.” So free lunch is starting this fall, free breakfast, so no child will go hungry in our school system. So you can do what you want in Washington, but I'm feeding our kids. I fed kids my entire life. I'm a mom. I know how to feed kids.

But also how we open up doors of opportunity for people — one of them is a college education. Why do I know this? My parents used to live in a trailer park in the shadow of the Bethlehem Steel Plant where my grandpa worked, his brothers worked, my dad worked, his brothers worked. Everybody worked at the steel plant. Little tiny trailer. My dad, while he was working at the steel plant, was able to get a college degree at night. When he got that degree, he said it'll start the path of getting his family. That little tiny apartment where I came along and a little house is a success, and I want that opportunity available to everybody, but the cost of tuition is too high, right? To try to just pay your utility bills, pay the rent. Think about possibly money for education for your own kids. I want adults who really want to do something different with their lives to better themselves, to have more income earning power, to have that shot without being strapped with the high cost of tuition.

So that's why starting this fall, we worked together with the Legislature. We got this done free. Community college tuition picked up by the State of New York and all the other expenses that go along with it for adults 25 to 55 going into key professions where we have shortages of workers. This also helps our employers in health care. Christina, you have a shortage of health care workers here? Yes. You're going to see a lot more people coming in your door when this happens. We already have 15 — actually now the number is 16,000 people have signed up this fall already, and we're picking up that cost that we — I'm so proud of that program.

So here's what we're doing. We all have the inflation rebate, so they'll say, “Oh no, don't give that money back to the people of New York. Do something else with it.” Really? Have you gone shopping in a bodega lately? Gone with the door, trying to see a mom, trying to be back to school — shoes for the kids little backpacks. You don't think they can use a few hundred bucks this fall, four oh bucks for most families? I think they do. You think they need that then tell everybody else all those naysayers. Clearly, I don't listen to them. And then how about the largest middle class tax rate cut in 70 years? So this is how we've figured out a path to put upwards of $5,000 back in the pockets of our hardworking New Yorkers.

Now, I'm proud we got this done. This is great. But on the other hand, put money back in pockets — the Trump tariffs and the cost of everything. You're driving everything up. People just aren't going to get ahead. So what do we do? We support our hospitals, our health care workers, our institutions will do what we can. I'm working with our leaders in the Legislature. We're making up $750 million in cuts this year alone. We weren't expecting that. I'd rather be able to use, give that money to Christina. I know exactly how she wants to spend it. She told me, she told me how she wants to spend this. We'll get you there. Not the 750 million just part. Oh, she wants 14 million. Sure. Let me check, let me see how much I've got. Every time I come to the Bronx, I leave with my pockets lighter. I'm just telling you right now. You guys are so good. Listen, you had me at, “Hello.” I love you. So we're going to continue the fight and for those who are giving up saying, “You know what? I just can't fight anymore. It's too much.” History will judge us by how we stand up in this moment, and I want it to be said that New Yorkers stood up and fought back. We've been fighting our entire history and we're not about to stop now. So let me bring up to you my friends, another great fighter, a fighter for the Bronx, a fighter for our country.

Let's hear from our Congressman Ritchie Torres.