00:13Cristina Conteiras, thank you for hosting us, number one.
00:19But to all the members of the medical facility, the staff, the doctors, the nurses, support
00:25staff, administration, I just want to tell you how grateful we are that all of you have
00:31dedicated your lives to bettering the health and outcomes for people in the South Bronx
00:36and all over.
00:37And to be the busiest ER in New York City, but the third busiest in the United States of America,
00:46is something that we should salute.
00:48Let's give them all a round of applause.
00:51Cassandra Howell, our Chief Operating Officer, I want to thank her.
00:58You're also hearing from one of our constituents here, Medicaid recipient, Ms. Martinez, who
01:03will be joining us in a few moments.
01:06All my partners in government, state officials have been recognized, I see you so often.
01:13City Councilmember, we have Gail Brewer here, I noticed, probably some others, our City Council
01:17members, my administration, many people from my administration are here, and all my partners.
01:24Also an individual who's a tireless fighter for the South Bronx and beyond.
01:30You are so blessed to have represent you in the powerful calls of Washington in Congress.
01:37For Congressman Richie Torres, let's give him another round of applause.
01:44Now, I just have a few observations.
01:52And I'm from Buffalo, you're from the Bronx, let's just talk straight.
01:58What Republicans in Washington have done, through the big, ugliest bill I've ever seen, is literally
02:07screwing New Yorkers.
02:09I'm just telling you straight, there's no way to sugarcoat it.
02:13It's all bad.
02:15It's all bad.
02:16Now let's count the number of people.
02:171.5 million New York residents will lose their health coverage through Medicaid.
02:24Those are our friends, our family, our neighbors.
02:29Let me just tell you the statistics here in the Bronx.
02:33Right here in the Bronx, 107,000 people will lose their coverage.
02:38You're all going to know somebody.
02:40Now where are they going to go for health care without this insurance?
02:42Oh, they're still coming here, but there won't be any way to pay for that.
02:47Christina, what does that do to the health of a hospital like this?
02:51It's unsustainable, and we'll keep you strong, but sure as I'm standing here, there's going
02:57to be hospitals all over the state of New York that are going to close, especially in
03:02our rural areas, up in the North Country.
03:05Those hospitals are already far apart.
03:07Imagine expecting a baby, your child's in a car accident, you need to get to a hospital,
03:14and it's hours away because they had to close because of what Republicans, who even represent
03:19that district, have done.
03:22That's what we have to contemplate, and let's talk about another issue that's so important.
03:30Feeding children.
03:34This is America.
03:35We're a very rich country, right?
03:39We should at least be able to feed our babies, and I've take this so personally.
03:47My daughter has a new baby, five weeks old yesterday.
03:52She sent me another picture today of her feeding the baby a little bottle.
03:56She doesn't have to worry about whether she can afford that formula, because we can take
04:00care of it.
04:01But there's so many families across this great country who want to feed their children, but
04:06they're struggling.
04:08They didn't ask for a pandemic, they didn't ask for inflation, they didn't ask for tariffs
04:13to drive up the cost of everything, and by the way, won't we promise lower prices day
04:17one of the Trump administration?
04:20No, no, no, they're going way up.
04:22So my daughter can take care of her baby, but families here in the Bronx are going to be
04:25struggling because they count on the SNAP programs that feed our children and our families.
04:31So how cruel and depraved is it to not just take away a basic human right to have health
04:37care when you're sick and you need it, but also say, we don't give a damn if you go hungry
04:43either.
04:44Republicans in Washington have lost their soul.
04:54But here in New York, we have not lost our heart.
04:58We'll always care about people, we'll never give up on them.
05:01We'll fight back, we'll fight back hard.
05:05But it is also disgraceful, it is disgraceful that New York State has seven Republican members
05:15of Congress whose job it is to go out there and fight for their constituents.
05:22Some in suburban areas, some in very rural areas.
05:25Your job is to represent those people and not do the bidding of a dictator like Donald Trump.
05:31But what do they do?
05:33Oh, they rolled, they caved, they didn't even put up a fight.
05:36And now one of them is actually running ads trying to persuade you how great this is.
05:42We're not stupid.
05:44You know the effects.
05:45There's no way you can say this is a good bill, it hurts people.
05:50And they missed their opportunity to show some profiles and courage.
05:54Any one of them could have stopped this from happening.
05:56Any one, all it took was one person to change their vote.
06:01They turned their backs on all of us.
06:04So now what do we have to deal with?
06:07Massive cuts, $13.5 billion cuts to health care in the great state of New York.
06:13Women will lose insurance, will lose nutrition programs, or even hurt Planned Parenthood programs,
06:18which in some parts of our state, that's the primary health care provider for women.
06:23They don't care.
06:24And I'm just ticking off a few of them here today because we're at a hospital.
06:27But the effects of everything else is absolutely devastating.
06:32Now, I'm fighting hard.
06:33I've got my legislators.
06:34They know what we did.
06:36They helped me put money back in your pockets.
06:39We had a whole strategy last January,
06:42making New York more affordable because we know what's going on out there.
06:46People are working harder than ever before, and they're falling further and further behind.
06:50It's just not American.
06:51It's not what people came here for this company for, lived here, spent their lives here,
06:55making it a great place.
06:57They always think the next generation is going to do a little better than the one before.
07:01But the generation today is stuck.
07:04The chance of home ownership is impossible.
07:07Trying to get their own apartment seems impossible.
07:11And this is not their fault.
07:14What we did was, he said, let's figure out a path.
07:18So for families with children under the age of four,
07:21$1,000 tax credit for them starting in the next year, $1,000.
07:27Older kids, age four to 16, $500 in your pockets.
07:32And it starts adding up for families.
07:33Let's put some money back in their pockets.
07:38Also, because there's so many children that need assistance paying for school lunches,
07:47those kids are stigmatized.
07:50They stand out.
07:51Everybody knows that they're the parents who can't afford to feed them, and so we have to.
07:58That creates a stigma for those children that lasts with them a lifetime.
08:01And why do I know that?
08:03I was on a Long Island talking about this.
08:06A Republican state senator came up to me, and he says,
08:11what you're doing by giving free lunches and breakfasts to every child in the state of New York is transformational.
08:19And I was surprised to hear that.
08:21I said, why?
08:22He says, I was that kid.
08:25I skipped lunch every day because I was too embarrassed to get in the line for the kids with subsidized meals.
08:31And you're changing people's lives, giving them dignity back.
08:35So free lunches starting this fall, free breakfast, so no child will go hungry in our school system.
08:40So you can do what you want in Washington, but I'm feeding our kids.
08:45I fed kids my entire life.
08:47I'm a mom.
08:48I know how to feed kids.
08:51Also, how we open up doors of opportunity for people.
08:55One of them is a college education.
08:58Why do I know this?
09:00My parents used to live in a trailer park in the shadow of the Bethlehem Steel Plant where my grandpa worked, my brothers worked, my dad worked, his brothers worked, everybody worked at the Steel Plant.
09:11A little, little tiny trailer, my dad, while he was working at the Steel Plant, was able to get a college degree at night.
09:21He was able to start the path of getting his family, that little tiny apartment where I came along, the little houses, success.
09:31And I want that opportunity available to everybody.
09:35The cost of tuition is too high, right?
09:38You try to just pay your utility bills, pay the rent.
09:41Think about possibly money for education for your own kids.
09:45I want adults who really want to do something different with their lives, to better themselves, to have more income earning power, to have that shot without being strapped with the high cost of tuition.
09:57So that's why, starting this fall, we worked together at the legislature, we got this done, free community college tuition picked up by the state of New York and all the other expenses that go along with it for adults 25 to 55 going into key professions where we have shortages of workers.
10:21This also helps our employers, health care.
10:23However, Christina, you have shortage of health care workers here, you're going to see a lot more people coming in your door when this happens.
10:30We already have 15, actually, no, the number is 16,000 people have signed up this fall already.
10:37And we're picking up that cost of tuition.
10:38I am so proud of that program.
10:41So here's what we're doing.
10:42We also have the inflation rebate.
10:45So people say, no, no, no, don't give that money back to the people of New York.
10:48Do something else with it.
10:50Really?
10:51You gone shopping at a bodega lately?
10:54Gone to a store?
10:55Trying to see a mom trying to be back to school shoes for the kids, little backpacks?
10:59You don't think they can use a few hundred bucks this fall?
11:02Four hundred bucks for most families?
11:04I think they do.
11:06You think they need that?
11:07Then tell everybody else, all those naysayers.
11:11Clearly, I don't listen to them.
11:13So, and then how about the largest middle class tax rate cut in 70 years?
11:19So this is how we've figured out a path to put upwards of $5,000 back in the pockets of our hardworking New Yorkers.
11:28Now, I'm proud we got this done.
11:31This is great.
11:32But on the other hand, put money back in this pocket.
11:35In this pocket, the Trump tariffs and the cost of everything are driving everything up.
11:41People just aren't going to get ahead.
11:43So, what do we do?
11:45We support our hospitals, our healthcare workers, our institutions.
11:48We'll do what we can.
11:49I'm working with our leaders in the legislature.
11:51We're making up $750 million in cuts this year alone.
11:55We weren't expecting that.
11:57I'd rather be able to give that money to Christina.
11:59I know exactly how she wants to spend it.
12:01She told me.
12:02She told me how she wants to spend this.
12:06We'll get you there.
12:07Not the $750 million.
12:09Just part of it.
12:12She wants $14 million.
12:13Sure, let me check.
12:14Let me see how much I've got.
12:16Every time I come to the Bronx, I leave with my pockets lighter.
12:19I'm just telling you right now.
12:21You guys are so good.
12:22Listen, you had me at hello.
12:26I love you.
12:27So, we're going to continue the fight.
12:31And for those who are giving up, saying, you know what?
12:34Ah, I just can't fight anymore.
12:37It's too much.
12:39History will judge us by how we stand up in this moment.
12:43And I want it to be said that New Yorkers stood up and fought back.
12:48We've been fighting our entire history.
12:51And we're not about to stop now.
12:54So, let me bring up to you, my friends, another great fighter.
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