U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres
Picture courtesy Rep. Torres’ workplace
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres is warning that President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which goals to chop taxes and authorities spending, additionally comprises cuts to the social security internet that may be disastrous for the Bronx.
The invoice proposes $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and SNAP meals help applications, which might be a “catastrophe for the Bronx,” stated Torres in an interview with the Bronx Occasions. “The consequences are hard to overstate.”
The President’s invoice proposes a “radical redistribution of wealth” that harms weak individuals whereas making wealthy Individuals even richer, in line with Torres.
It handed the Home on Might 22 by only one vote (215 to 214) and is now headed to the Senate, the place Torres stated he hopes lawmakers will take away essentially the most drastic cuts.
The invoice presently requires $1 trillion in tax cuts that Torres and others argue will primarily profit already-wealthy earners, although the administration disputes this concept.
The Trump administration argues the invoice will assist working Individuals and advance the problems they care about, equivalent to controlling unlawful immigration. It makes good on a Trump marketing campaign promise of no taxes on suggestions and extra time by way of 2028 and provides $12 billion in spending on border safety.
However Medicaid and SNAP applications — normally assumed to be protected from drastic cuts by any political social gathering— might endure main modifications that may impression thousands and thousands of Bronxites.
For one, the invoice would impose a piece requirement on able-bodied Medicaid holders between ages 19 and 64 who should not have kids. The invoice additionally requires individuals as much as age 64 to work in change for SNAP advantages, up from the present upper-age restrict of 54, and requires states to cowl extra of the associated fee.
The cuts would negatively impression many in New York Metropolis, however individuals within the Bronx, together with in Torres’ district, are most weak due to the excessive variety of individuals utilizing public advantages.
Poverty information reveals that Torres’ district has among the many metropolis’s highest ranges of meals insecurity. Of the seven NYC neighborhoods most affected, 4 are not less than partially inside Torres’ district, together with West Farms, Belmont, Highbridge and Mott Haven. In NY-15, 25% of households reside in poverty, in line with Census information.
Torres additionally stated that greater than two-thirds of NY-15 residents are enrolled in Medicaid and that households can not afford to cowl what he referred to as “draconian” cuts.
Not solely might many residents lose their private healthcare, the native workforce might additionally undergo, Torres stated. Healthcare jobs make up about 25% of the Bronx financial system, with the Montefiore system being the primary employer within the borough, he stated. Slicing Medicaid might result in job losses at hospitals, nursing properties, house care businesses and extra.
Torres, who’s exploring a run for governor, stated he’s spending most of his time in D.C. and in his district engaged on methods to guard constituents, although he stated there might be no substitute for federal funding.
“Republicans are effectively defunding food and healthcare for the bottom 50% in order to fund their tax cuts for the top 1%,” stated Torres. “I cannot imagine a greater betrayal of working-class Americans, particularly in the Bronx.”
