June 7, 2025
Dear Friends,
When Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress took power earlier this year, they did so with a promise to make life easier for everyday Americans. President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson pledged repeatedly to reduce deficits, lower costs for American families, and protect earned benefits like Medicare and Medicaid, vowing only to target “waste, fraud, and abuse.” But in recent weeks, as Republicans unveiled their disastrous budget scheme, it is painfully clear that they never intended to keep their promises.
The GOP’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” is a historic transfer of wealth from the poorest Americans to the richest — providing $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for billionaires and big corporations while slashing essential services and raising costs for those who can least afford them. Independent researchers at the University of Pennsylvania estimate that the GOP budget will cost the poorest households more than $1,000 per year, even as the wealthiest 0.1% reap an annual windfall of more than $389,000. And according to the independent, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) most recent projections, their plan would strip health insurance from 16 million Americans while adding $2.4 trillion to the deficit. This isn’t “fiscal responsibility” — it’s cruelty, plain and simple. And the hypocrisy doesn’t stop there — especially when it comes to mental and behavioral health.
This week, Republicans tried to distract from their disastrous budget scam by advancing the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act. Like many of my colleagues, I support the programs in this package that help deliver quality, affordable mental and behavioral health care to millions of Americans. But against the backdrop of the GOP’s broader push to dismantle the very agencies that make these programs possible, this legislation rings hollow. It’s little more than political theater — a chance for Republicans to pat themselves on the back for addressing addiction while slashing the programs, services, and staff the SUPPORT Act needs to function.
These cuts include steep reductions at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), where dedicated public servants work tirelessly every day to prevent overdoses and save lives. Earlier this year, I spoke directly with former SAMHSA employees who were fired due to these cuts, each of whom warned of a catastrophic impact on substance use disorder treatment, prevention, and recovery services nationwide. And this week, I took to the House floor to call out the GOP’s hypocrisy — comparing their efforts to “trying to heal a bullet wound with a band-aid.” Republicans may be too scared to speak out against the Trump administration’s decimation of SAMHSA, but my Democratic colleagues and I will never stop fighting to protect the mental and behavioral health care Americans rely on.
A central piece of Republicans’ promise to lower prices for American families was President Trump’s pledge to restore American energy dominance and cut home energy costs in half within his first 18 months in office. But so far, their policies have done the exact opposite — and their budget plan would only make matters worse. On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order halting all new approvals, permits, and funding for wind energy projects, both onshore and offshore — jeopardizing thousands of jobs and billions in private investments. Now, the GOP budget seeks to further undermine the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by repealing tax credits that have already created hundreds of thousands of jobs and significantly expanded our clean energy capacity.
Instead of gutting incentives for renewable energy, we need to double down on policies like the Offshore Energy Modernization Act I introduced this week — a comprehensive blueprint to ensure the long-term viability and success of the U.S. offshore wind industry. Only by expanding our clean energy infrastructure can we actually achieve the President’s stated goal of American energy dominance, while lowering energy costs, creating good-paying jobs, and protecting our planet for future generations.
In recent years, Republicans have tried desperately to brand themselves as “the party of the working class.” But their budget tells a different story — one that prioritizes tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy while raising costs for American families and gutting essential services for those who need them most. This is an unconscionable betrayal — and I’ll be spending the coming weeks and months doing everything in my power to deliver a budget that works for working people.
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:
- New York State’s Climate Smart Communities Grant Program provides competitive, 50/50 matching grants to municipalities across the state to conduct climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, including actions that are part of a strategy to achieve Climate Smart Communities certification.
- Round 8 of the CSC Grant Program is now open!
- To help communities learn more about the program and how to apply, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is offering two informational webinars:
- June 9, 2025, 10:00 AM — 11:30 AM
- July 14, 2025, 1:00 PM — 2:30 PM
- You can register for the June 9 webinar HERE, or for the July 14 webinar HERE.
- For more information on how your community can benefit from these grants, you can reach out to the Capital District Regional Planning Commission’s (CDRPC) Sustainability team HERE.
