Understanding the Impact: How Budget Cuts and Policy Rollbacks are Affecting Long Island Communities

Feb 23

7 min read

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As a mother, a social worker, and a social justice advocate on Long Island, I am watching in horror as our fundamental rights are stripped away before our eyes. The proposed budget cuts and policy rollbacks are not just numbers on a page. They are an attack on working-class families, on women, on immigrants, and on marginalized communities.

This is not about political party- they both suck.

This is about survival.

And here on Long Island, we are already living the consequences.

Key Areas of Impact

1. Healthcare Services for Families, Small Business Owners & Working Class Families

Medicaid cuts are gutting expansions that New York State took advantage of under the Affordable Care Act. This means fewer services, stricter eligibility, and less funding to keep clinics open (1).
Child Health Plus funding is at risk, threatening affordable healthcare access for children whose families make too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private insurance. Many Long Island families rely on this program to keep their kids healthy.
NY State Marketplace insurance plans—used by thousands of small business owners and gig workers—are in jeopardy as federal subsidies shrink. If you’re self-employed and rely on the state exchange, your premiums will rise, or you may lose coverage entirely (2).
These cuts won’t hurt the ultra-rich. They won’t even impact those with corporate jobs offering solid benefits. This is an attack on the working class—on those of us who work full-time, and still live pay check to pay check. (Here on Long Island the many of us hustling 60+ hour weeks and still living paycheck to paycheck!)

2. SNAP & Food Assistance Cuts Will Devastate Families

SNAP benefits are being slashed, forcing more working-class families into food insecurity (3).
Mothers will be forced to choose between feeding their children and paying rent. The cost of living here is already unmanageable—removing food assistance only makes the crisis worse.
Grocery prices remain at record highs, yet Long Island families will see less assistance than ever before.

3. Housing & Homelessness: Long Island Is Becoming California

The cost of renting a two-bedroom apartment for a family of three in Long Island is easily $3,000 per month. That’s unaffordable even for those with degrees and full-time jobs.
Many Long Island families already live in parking lots or on campsites where they are forced to move from site to site every two weeks to stay together and avoid Long Island’s broken and underfunded shelter system.
If nothing changes, we are gearing up to become like California, where tent cities and vehicle homelessness are a direct result of government inaction.

4. Education & Childcare Cuts Will Keep Families Trapped in Poverty

Cuts to Federal Work-Study programs and childcare subsidies will make higher education out of reach for many working parents (4).
How do they expect us to break the cycle of poverty if they keep making it impossible for us to get an education or afford childcare?

5. Workplace Protections & Diversity Programs Under Attack

The defunding of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs will make it harder for women and minorities to advance in their careers (5).
This is about power. They want to keep us divided, underpaid, and too exhausted to fight back.

Right now, those in power are doing everything they can to divide us.

They are pointing out every possible difference—race, gender, immigration status, religion—because they want us to turn on each other instead of turning on them.

They want the masses to fight over crumbs while they hoard everything.

While we argue, they cut healthcare.

While we point fingers, they slash food assistance.

While we blame each other, they funnel our tax dollars into the pockets of the ultra-rich.

Do not let them fool you.

This is not about race. This is not about left versus right. This is about power. And they are robbing us blind.

The working people—no matter our background—have more in common with each other than we ever will with the billionaires who control our economy and write our laws.

Long Island is already unaffordable for most of us. The cost of a two-bedroom apartment is $3,000 a month. Wages haven’t risen to match inflation. Many of us cannot afford to live where we grew up.

And yet, they are making sure we’re too distracted to fight back.

They want us blaming immigrants. They want us resenting single mothers on food assistance. They want us angry at each other—because if we ever unite, if we ever come together to recognize the truth, they know their days in power are numbered.

We must reject the division they are trying to create.

This is not about race. This is about class. This is about a system designed to keep all of us struggling while a handful of people at the top thrive off our labor.

We outnumber them.

They are terrified of what happens when we wake up.

And

Are

Awake.

Take Action: Protect Medicaid, SNAP, and Anti-Hunger Programs in New York

Help Us Organize: Share Your Story & Join the Fight
Are you seeing funding cuts already affecting your clients, non-profit, or services you rely on? Have Medicaid, SNAP, or other administrative actions impacted you directly?

We need to hear from you.

I’m hosting a virtual meeting on Tuesday, 2/25/25, at 2:30 p.m. to organize a grassroots response. Let’s connect to strategize and align on how legislative decisions are affecting our communities and the agencies we serve.

What we’ll discuss:
🔹 What funding threats are you seeing?
🔹 What’s already being cut?
🔹 How do we get the word out?
🔹 How do we take action—together?

📩 Fill out this contact form to get involved:🔗 Join us here

📅 Virtual Meeting Date: Tuesday, 2/25/25⏰ Time: 2:30 PM EST📍 Location: Online (Link will be sent after signup)

If we don’t stand up now, it will only get worse. Let’s connect and fight back—together.

2. Call Nick LaLota: Protect Medicaid for Long Islanders!

Right now, Congress is considering dangerous Medicaid cuts that would gut the expansions New York made under the Affordable Care Act. These cuts would jeopardize healthcare for small business owners, working-class families, and the most vulnerable in our community.

Nick LaLota needs to hear from us.

These cuts will:

✅ Slash funding for Medicaid expansion, stripping coverage from thousands of Long Islanders who rely on the NY State Marketplace.

✅ Hurt small business owners and self-employed workers who depend on ACA subsidies for affordable coverage.

✅ Threaten Child Health Plus, making it harder for working parents to keep their kids insured.

📞 Find your representative and call them today:🔗 Find your representative here

If you live in NY-1, call Nick LaLota directly:

📞 (202) 225-3826 (Washington, D.C. Office)

📞 (631) 289-1097 (Patchogue Office)

💬 Sample Script:"Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your Town]. I’m calling to urge Representative LaLota to oppose any Medicaid cuts that would hurt working families, small business owners, and children on Child Health Plus. The ACA’s Medicaid expansion has been critical for Long Islanders, and I expect Rep. LaLota to stand with his constituents—not the politicians pushing this reckless budget. Please protect our healthcare. Thank you."

Every call makes a difference.

Make yours today.

3. Sign the Petitions: Demand Full Funding for SNAP & Anti-Hunger Programs

Food insecurity is on the rise, yet SNAP benefits and anti-hunger programs are at risk of being cut in New York.

We must demand that New York State protects essential food assistance programs that help millions of families afford basic nutrition.

✍ Sign Feeding New York State’s petition to fully fund hunger relief programs:🔗 Sign here

These programs help:

🍎 Healthy School Meals for All – Ensuring no child in New York goes hungry at school.

🚜 Nourish New York – Providing culturally relevant, fresh food to struggling families while supporting local farmers.

🛒 The Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP) – Keeping food banks and shelters stocked with essential food supplies.

📢 The Nutrition Outreach and Education Program (NOEP) – Helping eligible New Yorkers access federally-funded SNAP benefits.

🥕 Double Up Food Bucks NY (DUFBNY) – Giving a $1-for-$1 match on SNAP purchases for fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers markets and grocery stores.

New York families cannot afford cuts to these vital programs.

Join us at: The War on Our Rights: A National Women’s Day Rally

📅 Saturday, March 8, 2025⏰ 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST📍 Chamber of Commerce Train Car (Route 347 & Route 112, Port Jefferson Station, NY)

Take action. Show up. Speak out. Stand together.

Because silence is complicity, and we refuse to be silent.

🔗 RSVP here: RSVP Now

We Must Act Now—Our Future Depends on It

They want us divided. They want us distracted. They want us fighting each other while they strip away our healthcare, our food assistance, and our basic human rights. But we see through their game.

🚨 Now is the time to fight back. 🚨

📩 Fill out this contact form to get involved:🔗 Join us here

📞 Call your representative and demand they protect Medicaid!🔗 Find your representative here

✍ Sign the petitions to protect SNAP and anti-hunger programs!🔗 Protect Medicaid & SNAP in NY🔗 Tell Governor Hochul: Fully Fund Hunger Relief

🪧 Show up and raise your voice at the rally!📍 The War on Our Rights: National Women’s Day Rally🗓 Saturday, March 8, 2025 | ⏰ 12:00 - 2:00 PM EST📍 Chamber of Commerce Train Car, Port Jefferson Station, NY

🗣 We outnumber them.🔥 They are terrified of what happens when we stand together.✊ Let’s make them hear us.

💥 Take action. Call. Sign. Show up. Because silence is complicity. 💥