Page 6 - Work Force July-August 2025

6 The Work Force July-August 2025
CANANDAIGUA — Just days before
U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney cast her
vote in favor of a federal budget
that slashes funding for Medicaid,
food assistance, and other critical
public services, CSEA
leaders stood outside
her district office with
a clear and urgent
demand: vote no.
That demand was
ignored.
On May 20, CSEA
Western Region
President Steve Healy
and Central Region
President Kenny
Greenleaf joined
fellow union leaders
and community
members to speak
out against a budget
they warned would
devastate working families across
New York state.
Despite those warnings, Tenney
ultimately voted to move the plan
forward in the House Ways and
Means Committee, siding with the
ultra-wealthy over the needs of her
own constituents.
“This budget is a betrayal
of the people she was elected
to represent,” said Healy.
“Representative Tenney heard
directly from the public workers who
keep her district running, and she
still chose tax breaks for billionaires
over health care, education, and food
assistance for everyday people.”
The budget includes what would
be the most severe cuts to Medicaid
in U.S. history. The budget plan
would cut the health coverage of
1.5 million New Yorkers and reduce
access to care for millions more, if
passed into law.
In Rep. Tenney’s 24th
Congressional District, those cuts
will hit especially hard. Medicaid
currently covers 40 percent of
Despite union demands, Tenney
votes to cut public services to fund
billionaire tax breaks
“We won’t be silenced or pushed
aside. CSEA members power
New York, and we’ll fight hard to
defend our jobs, services, and
communities,” said Greenleaf.
“These attacks on working people
end with us.”
— Nicholas Newcomb
children, 76 percent of nursing home
residents and 43 percent of births
in the district, according to data
from the Healthcare Association of
New York State. The program also
supports hospitals,
nursing homes, and
clinics that serve entire
communities.
The plan also
includes a $290
billion cut to the
Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program
(SNAP), putting 19,000
of Tenney’s own
constituents at risk of
losing food assistance,
even as the cost of
living continues to rise.
“These cuts aren’t
theoretical; they’re
going to cause real
harm,” said Greenleaf. “They’ll push
vulnerable families even closer to
the edge and make it harder for our
union members to do their jobs. This
isn’t responsible budgeting; it’s a
direct attack on working people.”
While gutting essential services,
the budget also makes permanent
tax breaks originally passed in 2017
that overwhelmingly benefit the
wealthiest Americans. The top 0.1
percent of earners would receive an
average tax break of $300,000, while
working families would receive little
to no benefit and lose access to
critical programs in the process.
“This is the largest upward
transfer of wealth in modern
history,” Healy said. “And
Representative Tenney chose to
stand with the richest few instead
of the thousands of working
families across Upstate New York
who depend on public services to
survive.”
The fight continues
Despite the outcome of the vote,
union leaders made it clear that this
fight is far from over. Public service
workers will continue to organize,
advocate and hold elected officials
accountable.
Central Region President Kenny Greenleaf tells U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney that the federal budget bill does not
reflect the values or needs of working people in her district. (Photo by Sara McNicholas)
“We won’t be
silenced or pushed
aside. CSEA
members power
New York, and
we’ll fight hard to
defend our jobs,
services, and
communities.
These attacks on
working people
end with us.”
Western Region President Steve
Healy represents CSEA and working
people at the “Hands Off” press
conference in Canandaigua outside
of U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney’s office.
(Photo by Sara McNicholas)