Rep. Ritchie Torres and Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke forcefully in opposition to Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” at a rally at Lincoln Hospital on Aug. 18, 2025.
Photograph Susan Watts/Workplace of Gov. Kathy Hochul
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Ritchie Torres joined forces at Lincoln Hospital on Monday to rally in opposition to well being care cuts that can end result from the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The price range invoice handed on July 4 and is predicted to end in 1.5 million New Yorkers dropping their well being care protection and 300,000 households dropping some or all of their SNAP advantages, in response to Hochul’s workplace.
The group stands to greet Gov. Hochul on Aug. 18, 2025.Photograph Emily Swanson
Hochul and Torres spoke to a packed crowd within the auditorium of the South Bronx hospital, which homes one of many nation’s busiest emergency rooms.
They had been joined by Lincoln Hospital CEO Cristina Contreras, well being care employees, nonprofit leaders, constituents and members of the anti-gun violence group Weapons Down Life Up, which is predicated on the hospital.
Hochul known as Torres a “tireless fighter” for his district, which features a large swath of Bronx neighborhoods reminiscent of Mott Haven, Concourse, Allerton, Pelham Parkway and Tremont.
Torres — who beforehand contemplated difficult Hochul within the 2026 governor’s race — as a substitute urged New Yorkers to come back collectively behind her.
“Not the time for infighting. Now is the time for unity under the leadership of our governor, Kathy Hochul,” he mentioned, calling the Bronx her “second home.”
Torres’ district to be hit laborious by cuts
Torres mentioned his constituents will undergo drastically below the Trump cuts due to the sheer variety of folks presently receiving advantages.
In NY-15, practically 273,000 people throughout 158,306 households obtain SNAP advantages, in response to Hochul’s workplace. Seventy p.c of Torres’ district inhabitants — properly over half one million folks — is enrolled in Medicaid, the very best fee within the nation, and greater than 94,000 are estimated to lose protection.
As well as, practically 13,000 NY-15 residents are anticipated to lose their state Important Plan well being protection.
The Trump invoice is “really screwing New Yorkers,” Hochul mentioned. “There’s no sugarcoating it.”
Bronx electeds fill the entrance row of the crowded auditorium. Photograph Susan Watts/Workplace of Gov. Kathy Hochul
She warned that not solely will people lose advantages, however many hospitals, particularly these in rural areas, will usher in much less funding. Closures might end result, which means some residents might should drive hours to the closest hospital, Hochul mentioned.
The governor mentioned it was “cruel and depraved” to remove folks’s well being care and reduce meals for needy households. “Republicans in Washington have lost their soul,” she mentioned.
Hochul pointed to a number of state initiatives aimed toward offsetting the cuts, together with free faculty breakfast and lunch for public faculty college students starting this fall, in addition to tax cuts and inflation rebate checks.
Regardless of these actions, many New York households are more and more involved about the price of meals, lease, well being care and different fundamental wants, she mentioned.
Hochul vowed to proceed the battle.
“History will judge us by how we stand up to this moment, and I want it to be said that New Yorkers stood up and fought back,” she mentioned.
Torres informed the gang that whereas many Bronxites wrestle to get by, Trump’s invoice will solely profit those that have already got unimaginable wealth.
“Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans are going to cut food, health care and energy for those who live on $20 a day in order to add tax breaks to billionaires like Elon Musk, who has a net worth of $400 billion,” he mentioned.
Torres mentioned Trump campaigned in Crotona Park promising to face up for working-class households, “but instead, he has betrayed them.”
“If we don’t fight for the health care needs of the Bronx, then who else will?” mentioned Torres. “The burden is on our shoulders.”
