Elected officers throughout Queens have criticized the Trump Administration and Republican lawmakers for passing the “One Big Beautiful Bill” final week, stating that the federal finances invoice could have “dangerous and rippling effects” throughout New York Metropolis and State.
President Donald Trump signed the invoice into regulation on July 4 after the Home narrowly voted 218-214 to approve it on Thursday. Earlier final week, Vice President JD Vance solid a tie-breaking vote to interrupt a 50-50 tie within the Senate.
The invoice, which incorporates a number of signature insurance policies of the Trump Administration’s agenda, completely extends Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered taxes for companies and for people throughout most revenue brackets. The tax cuts launched in 2017 have been scheduled to run out on the finish of the 12 months.
Critics have criticized the tax cuts, stating that they broadly favor higher-income earners.
Moreover, the invoice considerably will increase state and native tax deductions (SALT), elevating the cap on how a lot taxpayers can deduct from the quantity they owe in federal taxes from $10,000 to $40,000.
Trump’s invoice additionally contains huge boosts to protection and immigration spending, together with a $150 billion finances enhance for the US army and allocating $100 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which will likely be used to rent extra ICE personnel and virtually double migrant detention capability in america.
Previous to the Large Stunning Invoice, ICE’s annual finances was round $8 billion. The finances enhance makes ICE the biggest federal regulation enforcement company, based on the non-profit Brennan Heart for Justice.
To pay for these measures, the invoice contains vital cuts to applications akin to Medicaid and Supplemental Diet Help Program (SNAP), which is utilized by over 40 million low-income People. The invoice requires states to contribute extra to SNAP, which is at the moment totally funded by the federal authorities.
Trump has launched a lot of modifications and restrictions to Medicaid, together with a brand new work requirement for childless adults with out disabilities and shifting re-enrollment from annually to each six months. Senate Republicans have additionally proposed steeper cuts to Medicaid funding by incrementally decreasing supplier charges from 6% to three.5% by 2032, which critics state will shrink the useful resource pool that states use to attract federal matching funds.
Though the invoice proposes steep cuts throughout healthcare and dietary help applications, it doesn’t cowl the entire spending will increase that Trump has known as for, based on the Congressional Finances Workplace, which estimates that the invoice would add $3.4 trillion to federal deficits by 2034.
Elected officers throughout Queens slammed the potential impression of the invoice, criticizing Republicans for attacking applications that working-class households depend on whereas handing tax breaks to the “ultra wealthy.”
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, talking on the Home ground final Wednesday, described the laws as a “deal with the devil.”
U.S. Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to the media outdoors the U.S. Capitol after the U.S. Home of Representatives voted to move U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending and tax invoice, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 3, 2025.REUTERS/Ken Cedeno
“It explodes our national debt. It militarizes our entire economy, and it strips away health care and basic dignity of the American people,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned.
Ocasio-Cortez additionally attacked Trump over the no-tax ideas measure included within the Large Stunning Invoice, noting that the deduction for ideas is restricted to $25,000 per 12 months. In the meantime, an analogous no-tax additional time measure is restricted to $12,500 per 12 months.
Ocasio-Cortez known as the measure a “scam” and mentioned cuts to federal applications akin to Medicaid and SNAP make any tax deductions nugatory for individuals working in tipped positions.
“So if you’re at home and you’re living off tips, you do the math. Is that worth it to you? Losing all your health care, not able to feed your babies, not being able to put a diaper on their bottom,” Ocasio-Cortez mentioned.
U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, representing components of Queens and Brooklyn, mentioned the invoice will make People sicker, hungrier and poorer whereas “funneling” extra tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals within the nation. She added that the invoice will take away healthcare from 1.5 million New Yorkers and estimated that it will take away 65,000 healthcare jobs in New York State alone.
“This bill guts Medicaid, forces hospitals to close, and eliminates over 65,000 health care jobs in New York alone,” Velázquez mentioned in an announcement. “It could result in over 50,000 preventable deaths each year nationwide. Republicans have also decimated SNAP, the program that helps millions of children, seniors, and working families keep food on the table. In New York, nearly 3 million people rely on SNAP to survive.”
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng additionally delivered a scathing evaluation of the invoice, describing the Home’s slender vote in favor as a “sad day” for the American individuals.
“I’m disappointed that my colleagues across the aisle put billionaires over hardworking families and passed a bill that will slash funding for our health care system, hospitals, and nursing homes,” Meng mentioned in an announcement on X. “This legislation puts Americans at risk—leaving many without access to doctors, food, or the resources they need, all while the wealthy continue to prosper.”
State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, in the meantime, mentioned the invoice will lead to thousands and thousands of New Yorkers dropping entry to healthcare and public advantages akin to SNAP. Gonzalez mentioned the New York State legislature should reply to the invoice, including that state lawmakers needs to be able to reconvene and maintain a particular session to handle the cuts.
“We must pass revenue-raising legislation to mitigate the harm of these cuts and take care of New Yorkers’ basic needs,” Gonzalez mentioned.
State Sen. John Liu mentioned the invoice will damage a big variety of individuals in Queens with “vindictive” cuts to healthcare, including that the tax cuts outlined within the invoice won’t present aid for the overwhelming majority of Queens residents.
“The bad, ugly bill hurts an enormous number of people in Queens with vindictive cuts in healthcare, housing, and other provisions that we all pay for in federal taxes and provides zero tax relief to 99% of Queens residents,” Liu mentioned. “The Trump administration has taken from us with their left hand, and taken from us again with their right hand.”
He additionally known as for any Republican who voted in favor of the laws to be voted out of workplace.
Meeting Member Jenifer Rajkumar described the invoice as a “raw deal” for the working class and a “serious blow” to the healthcare system. She mentioned the invoice guts virtually $1 billion from Medicaid throughout the US in addition to eradicating healthcare from 12 million individuals throughout the nation.
“That’s not reform—it’s a direct hit on the people who need help the most,” Rajkumar mentioned. “Here in New York, over 7 million of our neighbors rely on Medicaid. Hospitals, clinics, and frontline providers count on that funding to care for our communities.”
Meeting Member Claire Valdez accused Trump and the Republican Occasion of betraying working individuals and maintaining guarantees to the “billionaire class.”
“The impacts on workers and families will be dire. It’s imperative that New York lead in this moment and step up to protect these essential programs and services by taxing the wealthy,” Valdez mentioned.
Likewise, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards described the laws as a betrayal of working households and a “sadistic attack” on the values that Queens holds expensive. He additionally described the invoice because the “largest transfer” of wealth from poor to wealthy in American historical past and labeled the Trump Administration as an “authoritarian regime.”
“This law — the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in American history — will rip healthcare away from the most vulnerable among us, threaten the very existence of our medical facilities, embolden ICE’s terrorizing of our communities and raise energy bills across our borough,” Richards mentioned in an announcement.
Council Member Julie Gained mentioned there was “nothing beautiful” within the proposed cuts to Medicaid and SNAP advantages and mentioned the invoice would damage the working class.
“These are programs that working-class New Yorkers need. Our families deserve real support, not budget cuts dressed up as progress. I will make sure our local government provides safety nets for the most vulnerable,” Gained mentioned.
Council Member Sandra Ung additionally criticized the laws, stating that it’s going to have “serious and long-lasting consequences” for the individuals of Queens.
“The legislation passed by Congressional Republicans slashing federal funding for Medicaid, food assistance, and housing programs under the guise of eliminating ‘waste’ is not fiscal responsibility, it’s cruelty disguised as policy,” Ung mentioned.
Some Queens politicians didn’t share issues over the laws, nonetheless.
Council Member Vickie Paladino, a Republican representing components of Whitestone, Bayside, and School Level, mentioned the laws delivers on Trump’s marketing campaign guarantees, together with “border security, fiscal discipline, and low taxes,” though she acknowledged that “no budget is perfect.”
Paladino acknowledged that she would have most popular if the invoice included “deeper cuts” to spending and “serious simplification” of the tax code, however heralded the laws as an excellent begin.
“I’m thrilled to see major resources being put towards law enforcement, particularly border enforcement, and keeping taxes low at this time is crucial to the economic growth our economy desperately needs,” Paladino mentioned.
“In New York, we saw our SALT deduction restored. While I would have liked to see deeper cuts to spending and serious simplification of the tax code, the bill does make many necessary reforms. We have a lot more work to do, but this is a start.”
In the meantime, Council Member Robert Holden, a conservative Democrat and the founding father of the Metropolis’s Frequent Sense Caucus, mentioned the Large Stunning Invoice contains some “promising provisions” for public security infrastructure and native funding, which he described as areas the place New York Metropolis wants “real support.”
“I’m also encouraged to see progress on the SALT deduction, which has long been a burden on middle-class families in our region. While I’ll leave the broader political debate in Washington to members of Congress, I’ll keep pushing for smart, practical policies that deliver for New Yorkers,” Holden mentioned in an announcement.
