This Week in Albany – May 16, 2025

The House Budget Committee rejected a budget package this afternoon that would make massive cuts to Medicaid, and SNAP, among other programs, to fund a tax cuts for billionaires. However, this is a temporary victory–another vote is likely to take place early next week.

Medicaid

The cuts to Medicaid in the bill would be disastrous for New York, costing the state more than $15 billion. Here are some of the proposals:

• Slashing payments to safety net hospitals by as much as $1.6 billion annually, which would threaten SUNY Upstate, SUNY Downstate, Erie County Medical Center, Westchester Medical Center, Nassau University Medical Center and other hospitals where CSEA members work.
• Penalizing New York for using state funds to provide healthcare to undocumented immigrants by cutting federal Medicaid matching funds by 10%, which would cost the state $1.9 billion per year.
• Imposing work requirements and copayments on Medicaid recipients, which will result in roughly 1 million New Yorkers losing health coverage.
• Eliminating New York’s provider tax that was expected to raise $3.7 billion in new federal funding for the state over the next two years. This may force the state to claw back provisions in the FY 2026 budget that would increase support for safety net hospitals and nursing homes.
• Forcing elderly and disabled New Yorkers out of their homes by requiring them to surrender their assets in order to qualify for long-term care.

SNAP

The bill also cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), better known as food stamps, by about $300 billion. Roughly 3 million New Yorkers, or about 15% of the state’s population, rely on SNAP benefits.

SNAP is funded entirely by the federal government. In 2024, New York state received $7.35 billion for the program. The new rules advanced by the U.S. House of Representative would require New York to cover up to 25% of the costs of the program, more than $1.8 billion. In addition, the bill implements new incentives to privatize SNAP administration, putting county jobs at risk.

Taxes

In exchange for these cuts, the bill includes tax cuts for billionaires that are expected to add $2.5 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade. Roughly 30 percent of the benefits of these tax cuts would go to corporations and those earning more than $400,000 per year.

Take Action

In the coming days, the House of Representatives will be voting on these bills, and others, to enact these cuts into law. Tell your member of Congress: no tax cuts for billionaires, preserve services for New York!

2. CSEA State Budget Summary

Last week, the legislature passed the final state budget. You can read CSEA’s budget summary on our website here.

3. CSEA-Supported Bills Make Progress

Several CSEA-supported bills advanced out of committee this week, including:

• S.550/A.66 (Brisport/Hevesi): Requires the statewide central register of child abuse to collect the name and contact information of someone reporting abuse. This will cut down on the number of calls that are made for harassment purposes and will help reduce caseloads.

• S.7680/A.6634 (Serrano/Kim): Requires the State Office of Parks to develop operational safety plans prior to deploying employees into hazardous conditions.

• S.2396/A.4035 (Persaud/Eachus): Sets caseload caps of no more than 30 combined cases for Adult Protective Services caseworkers.

• S.4773/A.1396 (Chris Ryan/Eachus): Prohibits the state from outsourcing the work that would otherwise be done by public employees during a hiring freeze.
•  

4. Next Week