May 12, 2025

Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson House Committee on Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20515

Chairman John Boozman Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Washington, D.C. 20510

Chairman Brett Guthrie House Committee on Energy and Commerce Washington, D.C. 20515

Chairman Mike Crapo Senate Committee on Finance Washington, D.C. 20510

Ranking Member Angie Craig House Committee on Agriculture Washington, D.C. 20515

Ranking Member Amy Klobuchar Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Washington, D.C. 20510

Ranking Member Frank Pallone House Committee on Energy and Commerce Washington, DC 20515

Ranking Member Ron Wyden Senate Committee on Finance Washington, D.C. 20510

“He that oppresses the poor blasphemes his maker, but he that is gracious to the poor honors God” (Proverbs 14:31)

Dear Chairman Thompson, Ranking Member Craig, Chairman Boozman, Ranking Member Klobuchar, Chairman Guthrie, Ranking Member Pallone, Chairman Crapo, and Ranking Member Wyden:

We, the undersigned 156 Jewish organizations, write to express our strong opposition to cutting hundreds of billions of dollars for federal basic needs programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid that help low-income Americans afford the high cost of essentials such as food and healthcare. The proposals under consideration to slash, restructure, and further restrict these programs would have irreparable, direct impacts on our Jewish community, the populations we serve, and those for whom we advocate. They run counter to our Jewish values of preserving dignity, centering justice, and being gracious to the poor.

Food assistance from SNAP is a lifeline for 42 million food insecure Americans, including one in five children. We oppose changes to the program such as rolling back the 2021 update to the Thrifty Food Plan, preventing benefits from keeping pace with the cost of a realistic diet, terminating categorical eligibility, expanding ineffective work requirements, limiting states’ waiver authorities, and shifting some of the cost of benefits to states. Alone, any single one of these actions would create additional barriers to program access and increase our national hunger crisis. Altogether, they would reduce benefits for participants, threaten families’ direct access to other low-income supports, worsen administrative burdens on families and providers, and take power and resources away from states. The charitable sector is already stretched to the limit, and our social service agencies, food pantries, synagogues, and philanthropies will not be able to meet the newfound need.

Medicaid provides health coverage to over 70 million Americans. We oppose changes to the program such as capping federal Medicaid funding through block grants or per capita caps, imposing new work requirements on enrollees, and reducing the federal rate to support state Medicaid Expansion. Funding caps would undermine Medicaid’s ability to respond during economic downturns and public health emergencies, forcing harmful cuts to services, eligibility, and provider payments. Work requirements, while framed as promoting self-sufficiency, would in reality lead to widespread coverage loss, particularly among those already working, caregiving, or facing health challenges. These bureaucratic barriers would disproportionately harm people living with chronic illness, disabilities, trauma, and unstable employment. Reducing federal coverage to Medicaid expansion states, meanwhile, would likely force the 40 states (plus Washington, DC) that have expanded Medicaid access to remove the 20 million individuals supported by the expansion. Medicaid is a vital lifeline, sustaining mental health services, long-term care, and community-based support for millions. Proposals that cap funding, add punitive barriers to coverage, or cut federal funding to states would threaten the health, stability, and dignity of individuals and families across the country.

Cutting funding to these programs will have disastrous impacts on our economy nationwide. Cuts to Medicaid would exacerbate existing challenges for hospitals and care providers, especially in rural and underserved areas, forcing many to close and lay off staff. Similarly, cuts to SNAP would result in job losses in the agriculture, food production, and grocery industries. Both would lead to worse health outcomes and add financial stress to millions of families and children in every community across the nation.

Our Jewish text and traditions guide our belief that it is the federal government’s responsibility to respond to the circumstances and systemic challenges that contribute to hunger and poverty. It is morally indefensible to extract resources from food and healthcare assistance in order to advance tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and businesses.

We urge your committees to take our concerns to heart and block any proposals that would result in harm to beneficiaries of SNAP or Medicaid.

Sincerely,

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger

National Council of Jewish Women

Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies

American Conference of Cantors

ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal

Avodah

Aytzim: Ecological Judaism

Bend The Arc: Jewish Action

Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)

Jewish Democratic Council of America

Jewish Labor Committee

Jewish Sacred Aging

Jews for a Secular Democracy

Keshet

Kirva

Men of Reform Judaism

Rabbinical Assembly

Reconstructing Judaism

Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association

TEN: Together Ending Need

Union for Reform Judaism

Uri L’Tzedek

Women of Reform Judaism

Zioness

Adath Jeshurun Congregation (MN)

Alexander Jewish Family Service (TX)

Arizona Jews for Justice (AZ)

Bet Shalom Congregation (MN)

Beth Haverim Shir Shalom (NJ)

Chai Impact (Quad Cities of Iowa/Illinois)

Chicago Jewish Labor Committee (IL)

CJE SeniorLife (IL)

Coastal Roots Farm (CA)

Congregation Adath Jeshurun (KY)

Congregation Ahavath Chesed (FL)

Congregation Beth El-Sunbury (PA)

Congregation Beth Israel (OR)

Congregation Beth Shalom (WA)

Congregation Emanu El (TX)

Congregation Kneseth Israel (IL)

Congregation Shirat Hayam (MA)

Davis Center for Social Justice at Temple Sinai (DC)

Dinah (PA)

Gesher Human Services (MI)

Goodman Jewish Family Services of Broward (FL)

Greater Washington Jewish Coalition Against Domestic Abuse (JCADA) (MD)

Greenwich Reform Synagogue (CT)

Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services (FL)

JCFS Chicago (IL)

Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action (MA)

Jewish Community Action (MN)

Jewish Community Services (FL)

Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (MN)

Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (IL)

Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Greater Boston (MA)

Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh (PA)

Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland (OH)

Jewish Family Service Los Angeles (CA)

Jewish Family Service of Atlantic and Cape May Counties (NJ)

Jewish Family Service of Colorado (CO)

Jewish Family Service of Greater Dallas (TX)

Jewish Family Service of Greater Harrisburg (PA)

Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans (LA)

Jewish Family Service of Metrowest MA (MA)

Jewish Family Service of the Lehigh Valley (PA)

Jewish Family Service of Utah (UT)

Jewish Family Service of Western Massachusetts (MA)

Jewish Family Services of Columbus (OH)

Jewish Family Services of Delaware, Inc. (DE)

Jewish Family Services of Greater Charlotte (NC)

Jewish Family Services of Greensboro (NC)

Jewish Family Services of Northeastern New York (NY)

Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor (MI)

Jewish Federation of Greater Portland (OR)

Jewish Family and Career Services, Louisville (KY)

Jewish Social Service Agency of Greater Washington (DC)

JFCS of Greater Boston (MA)

JFCS East Bay (CA)

JFCS Long Beach and Orange County (CA)

JFCS Minneapolis (MN)

JFCS of Greater Mercer County (NJ)

JFCS of Southern Arizona (AZ)

JFCS of the Suncoast (FL)

JVS Boston (MA)

JVS SoCal (CA)

Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives (NY)

Lab/Shul (NY)

Levine Center To End Hate, Jewish Federation of Rochester NY (NY)

Mayerson JCC (OH)

Moses Montefiore Congregation (IL)

National Council of Jewish Women Arizona Section (AZ)

National Council of Jewish Women Atlanta Section (GA)

National Council of Jewish Women Atlanta Section (GA)

National Council of Jewish Women Austin Section (TX)

National Council of Jewish Women Colorado Section (CO)

National Council of Jewish Women Chicago North Shore Section (IL)

National Council of Jewish Women Contra Costa (CA)

National Council of Jewish Women Essex Section (NJ)

National Council of Jewish Women Greater Dallas Section (TX)

National Council of Jewish Women Greater Long Beach & West Orange County Section (CA)

National Council of Jewish Women Greater New Orleans Section (LA)

National Council of Jewish Women Greater Philadelphia Section (PA)

National Council of Jewish Women Greater Rochester Section (NY)

National Council of Jewish Women Louisville Section (KY)

National Council of Jewish Women Maryland (MD)

National Council of Jewish Women Michigan Section (MI)

National Council of Jewish Women Minnesota Section (MN)

National Council of Jewish Women Nashville Section (TN)

National Council of Jewish Women New York Section (NY)

National Council of Jewish Women Palm Beach Section (FL)

National Council of Jewish Women Peninsula Section (NY)

National Council of Jewish Women Pennsylvania (PA)

National Council of Jewish Women Pittsburgh Section (PA)

National Council of Jewish Women Rockland Section (NY)

National Council of Jewish Women Sacramento Section (CA)

National Council of Jewish Women San Antonio Section (TX)

National Council of Jewish Women SE Atlantic Section (DC)

National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis Section (MO)

National Council of Jewish Women Virginia (VA)

National Council of Jewish Women Washington (WA)

New England Jewish Labor Committee (MA)

Oak Park Temple B’nai Abraham Zion (IL)

Ohavay Zion Synagogue (KY)

Or Hadash (CT)

Orangetown Jewish Center (NY)

Oranim NC: A New Jewish Community in North Carolina (NC)

Park Slope Jewish Center (NY)

Philadelphia Jewish Labor Committee (PA)

Ruth & Norman Rales Jewish Family Services (FL)

SAJ-Judaism that Stands for All (NY)

Scarsdale Synagogue (NY)

Schoke Jewish Family Service of Fairfield County (CT)

SoulFull Jewish Journeys (MD)

Tampa Jewish Family Services (FL)

Temple Adath Israel (KY)

Temple Adath Yeshurun (NH)

Temple B’nai Israel of Kalamazoo (MI)

Temple Beth Am Seattle (WA)

Temple Beth Avodah (MA)

Temple Beth El (TN)

Temple Beth-El of South Bend (IN)

Temple Beth Tzedek (NY)

Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel (PA)

Temple Bnai Israel (CT)

Temple Emanuel (MD)

Temple Israel Columbus (OH)

Temple Israel of Hollywood (CA)

Temple Micah, Washington (DC)

Temple Shalom, Chevy Chase (MD)

Temple Sholom of Chicago (IL)

Temple Sinai (NV)

The Ark (IL)

Tikvat Israel Congregation (MD)

United Hebrew Trades – New York Jewish Labor Committee (NY)

Vassar Temple (NY)

Westchester Jewish Community Services (WJCS)

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

A Republican lawmaker is warning the GOP about what the party’s proposed Medicaid cuts would do long term.

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley called the cuts to Medicaid “politically suicidal” as many Republicans’ voter bases may be threatened by them.

Why It Matters

House Republicans have proposed legislation with $880 billion in cuts, largely to Medicaid, in order to approve $4.5 trillion in tax breaks.

While the budget doesn’t explicitly cut Medicaid or Medicare, recent analysis found the financial target would be difficult to achieve without impacting the two government-run health care programs.

Nationwide, nearly 70 million Americans rely on Medicare and about 80 million are on Medicaid. The budget proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by 8.6 million over a decade, according to a preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Sarah Wynn-Williams, former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on April 09,… U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Sarah Wynn-Williams, former Director of Global Public Policy at Facebook, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on April 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. More Win McNamee/Getty Images

What To Know

House Republicans instructed the Energy and Commerce Committee to decide which programs and areas would be cut in the new bill, but Medicaid and Medicare are allotted a considerable portion of the committee’s funding.

In all, the committee would have to reduce $880 billion in spending over the next decade.

Hawley said Republicans are having an “identity crisis” and the debate over Medicaid cuts reflects the ongoing problem.

“Mr. Trump has promised working-class tax cuts and protection for working-class social insurance, such as Medicaid,” Hawley wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times. “But now a noisy contingent of corporatist Republicans—call it the party’s Wall Street wing—is urging Congress to ignore all that and get back to the old-time religion: corporate giveaways, preferences for capital and deep cuts to social insurance.

“This wing of the party wants Republicans to build our big, beautiful bill around slashing health insurance for the working poor. But that argument is both morally wrong and politically suicidal.”

In Missouri, voters opted to expand Medicaid access along with 39 other states, and 21 percent of Missourians benefit from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Hawley said.

“In 2020, the same year Mr. Trump carried the Missouri popular vote by a decisive margin, voters mandated that the state expand Medicaid coverage to working-class individuals unable to afford health care elsewhere. Voters went so far as to inscribe that expansion in our state constitution,” Hawley said.

“If Congress cuts funding for Medicaid benefits, Missouri workers and their children will lose their health care. And hospitals will close. It’s that simple. And that pattern will replicate in states across the country.”

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump, on Truth Social: “This week the Republicans are meeting in the Tax, Energy, and Agriculture Committees on major pieces of ‘THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL.’… The Bill is GREAT. We have no alternative, WE MUST WIN! But now, with the tremendous Drug and Pharmaceutical Cuts, plus massive incoming Tariff Money, our “GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL” just got much BIGGER and BETTER. The Golden Age of America will soon be upon us.”

Drew Powers, the founder of Illinois-based Powers Financial Group, told Newsweek: “I am relieved to see that Republican lawmakers are starting to speak out against Medicaid cuts. As Hawley states in his letter, nearly 1 in 5 of all Americans are direct beneficiaries of Medicaid, and half of Americans have a personal or family connection to Medicaid. That’s a lot of voters, and more importantly, these statistics represent the most vulnerable of our citizens: the elderly, the disabled, children in low-income families and the poor. It’s also worth noting, Josh Hawley is not known to be a moderate Republican, so I could see most other Republicans pushing against Medicaid cuts as time goes on.”

Louise Norris, health policy analyst for healthinsurance.org, told Newsweek: “Senator Hawley is imploring his party to avoid cuts to Medicaid, noting that it’s a crucial source of health coverage in Missouri and throughout the nation….The impact of reduced federal funding for Medicaid will depend on what’s eventually in a final bill, assuming there’s enough Congressional agreement for that. Some proposed measures would only affect the Medicaid expansion population of low-income adults, while others could apply more broadly. But regardless of how it’s done, reducing federal funding for Medicaid will result in people losing coverage, benefits being reduced, or both.”

Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek: “Hawley’s comments are a sign that the ‘big, beautiful bill’ does not have the backing necessary to pass during the first go-round. As you can see through many of the town halls, people are not happy, and these representatives are feeling the backlash from their constituents. This is actually a breath of fresh air as we are starting to see representatives actually ‘represent’ their constituents.”

Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: “Senator Hawley makes several valid points, with the greatest one being this is a moment where the Republican Party has to come to terms with the identity they want to embody. They can either side with a program that provides health care coverage to over 70 million Americans, many of which work already, or back tax cuts that favor wealthier Americans. So many of the voting gains Republicans made have been to promoting legislative changes that benefit the middle and working classes. Failure to follow through on those promises and even cut coverage could result in massive voting losses in 2026.”

What Happens Next

Negotiations on the spending bill and subsequently larger Medicaid cuts are expected to continue through the summer.

Since Republicans control both chambers of Congress, with fairly thin margins, the issue of whether and how much to cut federal Medicaid funding is likely going to be a significant part of the budget debate.

“Republicans may be cutting off their nose to spite their face,” Thompson said. “As Hawley stated, a large contingent of his constituents need the program in regard to expansion, and based on the cuts to expansion, more than a few people will lose coverage. As this process gets closer and others realize how these cuts impact their states, a larger discourse will ensue, forcing the hands of some of the Republican base possibly stonewalling this bill near term.”

WASHINGTON — Republicans have promised the public for weeks their budget plan moving through Congress would not touch funding for Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security.

The director of the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency that provides economic and budget analysis for Congress, said this week that’s impossible.

The Republicans’ budget proposal — drawn up with the goal of cutting at least $1.5 trillion in federal spending and paying for as much as $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade — cleared the House in a tight vote last week.

The House adopted the plan 217-215. New Jersey’s lawmakers split along party lines, with Republicans voting for it and Democrats against it.

Medicaid covers nearly 2 million people in New Jersey, roughly 30,000 of whom are disabled, plus at least 60% of nursing home residents, according to state data. Medicaid also covers the costs for about 40% of the births in the state.

Big impact on NJ

Cuts by the Republican Congress and the Trump administration would likely force higher costs onto New Jersey taxpayers and residents. About one-third of the state budget is Medicaid expenses with federal money covering a majority of the program’s cost. In the budget year ending June 30, the program is slated to cost $19.4 billion, of which nearly $12 billion is to be paid for by the federal government and $6 billion by the state.

The budget plan is the Trump administration’s first substantial legislative objective this Congress, and Republicans are using a special procedural method called “budget reconciliation” that allows them to avoid the Senate’s filibuster that requires 60 yes votes to advance a bill.

The plan also calls for $100 billion for the U.S. military and $90 billion, over ten years, for the Trump administration’s immigration goals.

To slash spending, the plan directs the House committee that oversees federal health programs, where Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th) is the top-ranking Democrat, to find $880 billion minimum in cuts.

Pallone’s request

In a three-page response to a request from Pallone, the director of the CBO, Phillip Swagel, said cuts of that level would not be achievable without cutting into the safety-net programs of Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health coverage for low-income kids.

Even if the health committee cut all programs under its jurisdiction except for the safety-net programs, the savings would amount to just $135 billion, according to the CBO analysis. The panel in question, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also oversees telecommunications programs and small federal programs. But Medicaid funding dwarfs them by comparison.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s district is home to approximately 126,400 people signed up for Medicaid or CHIP — about 20% of people in the district — according to the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.

“This letter from CBO confirms what we’ve been saying all along: the math doesn’t work without devastating Medicaid cuts,” Pallone said in a statement, adding, in part, that the “Republicans know their spin is a lie.”

Pallone and Brendan Boyle, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and his party’s top lawmaker on the House budget committee, requested the CBO report on Monday.

Van Drew wavered, then voted yes

Cutting Medicaid could be politically radioactive for Republican lawmakers nationwide, in particular those who represent poorer districts, and some of them wavered before voting for the plan in the House last week.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd) was one of those wavering members, telling reporters before the vote he was unsure how he would vote due to worries about Medicaid.

After the CBO report came out, Van Drew said eliminating waste and fraud in the federal government’s budget could save billions of dollars.

“The budget resolution that was passed by the House was a non-binding resolution that laid the framework for savings spread over ten years — it does not enact any changes to these vital programs, nor would I ever support such cuts,” Van Drew said in a statement Thursday. “As this budget moves to the Senate and incorporates input from President Trump, it will continue to evolve.”

Van Drew told NJ Spotlight News on Wednesday he met with Sarah Adelman, commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Human Services, to discuss the Republican budget plan.

Van Drew’s district is home to approximately 126,400 people signed up for Medicaid or CHIP — about 20% of people in the district — according to the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.

A spokesman for Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th) said Thursday the congresswoman is organizing town halls in the congressional districts of Van Drew and Reps. Chris Smith (R-4th) and Tom Kean (R-7th) that would focus on potential Medicaid cuts.

Credit: (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Federal and state officials are pushing back on efforts by the Trump administration to rescind some $350 million in federal funds dedicated to New Jersey for various public health needs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th) said he is working with Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey’s federal representatives to block what he framed as a surprise claw-back of money already committed – or previously spent. The money is intended for programs that prevent the spread of diseases, address addiction and support vaccination clinics. The federal government provided the funding to help states respond to the COVID-19 emergency, but Pallone said New Jersey is among the states that received permission to use it for other “urgent public health needs.”

“This isn’t just a political stunt. It’s lawless,” said Pallone, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House committee that oversees federal health care policy and programs, in a statement Friday. “These funds were already budgeted and, in many cases, spent by local health departments to keep vaccination clinics running, respond to outbreaks, and support addiction and mental health services. Stripping that money now means doctors go unpaid and critical care stops in its tracks.”

Murphy – who recently proposed a $58 billion state budget that is highly dependent on federal funding – said the loss could “take contact tracers out of the field” and “vastly limit” local health departments’ ability to follow up on communicable diseases as measles cases are ticking up here and avian flu has been diagnosed in cats, poultry and wild birds. State officials announced two new measles exposures on Friday, following a cluster of three cases diagnosed in a north Jersey household in February. Nationwide nearly 500 measles cases have been identified this year and two deaths have been reported.

“These irrational and inexplicable cuts have created an unfillable void in funding that will have disastrous ramifications for our most vulnerable neighbors,” Murphy, a Democrat in his second and last four-year term, said in a statement released late Thursday. “We will do everything we can to restore this funding — including taking legal action — so we can keep the people of New Jersey safe and healthy.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced late Tuesday that it intends to recover $11.4 billion in funds allocated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including $350 million for New Jersey, according to state officials. The news immediately sparked concerns for local health departments in New Jersey that are responsible for the bulk of public health work, like inspecting restaurant kitchens, tracking bird flu cases and organizing vaccination clinics for seniors.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is over, and [federal health officials] will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a non-existent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago,” said a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – an umbrella agency that includes the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and nearly a dozen other groups – shared with The Associated Press and other media outlets.

Soon after, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he intended to cut 10,000 people from the organization’s staff, cuts that largely targeted the CDC, the FDA and the National Institutes of Health, which funds scientific research and has already faced unrelated funding cuts. When combined with previous workforce reductions, HHS will lose nearly one-quarter of its 82,000 employees, according to various reports.

“We aren’t just reducing bureaucratic sprawl. We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said, according to The Guardian , which noted he also plans to close some regional HHS offices.

Officials at New Jersey’s Department of Health did not say what this federal staffing reduction would mean to the state late last week. They were also unable to provide a breakdown on how much of the $350 million now recalled by the CDC has been spent or allocated and how much remains available.

But Murphy’s statement indicated the reductions would have real impacts on New Jersey families. “These cuts will make it harder for parents to find vaccinations for their children, for providers to get lab results back in time to prevent the spread of severe illness, and for Federally Qualified Health Centers to deliver vital care. They will jeopardize resources that support individuals experiencing a mental health crisis or struggling with substance use disorder, and so many other New Jerseyans who depend on a functional public health care system. And they will immediately stop critical public health infrastructure investments, risking long-term harm and undermining our readiness for emergencies,” he said.

Last week’s news follows fears of massive federal spending reductions for Medicaid, the state and federally funded health care program that insures 1.8 million New Jersey residents, pays for 60% of nursing home residents here and provides hundreds of millions in aide to hospitals. Congressional Republicans are looking to slash as much as $880 billion over ten years from a portfolio of programs that includes Medicaid to offset Trump’s spending priorities, a cut that could reduce federal dollars for New Jersey by anywhere from $2 billion to nearly $10 billion.

Murphy joined state officials, hospital leaders and a half-dozen patients Friday at a community center in Westfield – part of the congressional district represented by Republican Tom Kean Jr., who insists Medicaid spending can be reduced by curbing waste and fraud, without harming patients – to discuss the impact of potential congressional actions. Other changes under discussion in Washington, D.C. could end coverage for up to 700,000 Medicaid patients in New Jersey, state officials said.

Sarah Adelman, commissioner of the Department of Human Services, which oversees Medicaid, thanked the patients who spoke Friday for sharing their stories which she said make “draconian” cuts proposed seem less abstract. The possible spending reductions “will disproportionately affect children, new mothers, seniors, people with mental illness, and people with disabilities, while undermining our state’s public health infrastructure,” she said in a statement following the event.

Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Kaitlan Baston said the Medicaid cuts under discussion don’t just impact those insured through these state and publicly funded plans. “We’re talking about a program that touches every aspect of public and private health care. Each dollar withheld from New Jerseyans means lost jobs, closed hospitals, price hikes for health services, and more people dying early from preventable diseases,” she said in the statement.

Under Murphy’s proposal for the budget year that begins July 1 – which lawmakers are now working to finalize – Medicaid and a related program to insure children from working-poor families would cost $22.8 billion, nearly 39% of the total spending proposed. Under existing structures, nearly two-thirds of that amount would be funded by the federal government. New Jersey officials have said state taxpayers cannot cover the full cost if federal dollars are cut.

As drafted, Murphy’s budget proposal does not include new state money for local public health initiatives, a major concern for public health officers who were already concerned about sustainable funding for their work before the CDC announced the COVID-19 claw back last week. New Jersey is served by a patchwork system of 100-plus regional, county or municipal health offices that receive state and federal funding for specific programs – like smoking cessation or HIV/AIDs prevention – but rely largely on local tax dollars for structural support.

Paul Roman, who represents a coalition of local public health agencies, reiterated this worry in written remarks he prepared for legislators now reviewing Murphy’s budget and shared with reporters. Before COVID-19 – and the infusion of federal dollars that resulted – public health agencies in New Jersey had roughly one-third of the staff recommended by experts, he said, and when these funds disappear roughly 20% of the current staff will need to be terminated.

“Local taxation cannot and will not be able to pick up most of these former employees,” Roman said. “Strategic investments in prevention now will result not only in big savings in health care but in big savings in citizens’ lives and wellbeing.”