Fiscal Policy Institute Director Nathan Gusdorf today released a statement on the federal budget legislation that passed the U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon by a vote of 218-214, with all of New York's Republican representatives voting in favor of the bill.
Yesterday, in a 51-49 vote, Senate Republicans passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), which, if passed by the House this week, will increase the national debt by approximately $4 trillion while leaving 11 million more Americans uninsured by 2035. The bill is significantly more draconian in its Medicaid cuts than the version passed by the House in May, cutting the program by $1 trillion over 10 years, rather than the $800 billion proposed in the House bill.
The OBBBA could threaten one of the signature accomplishments of the ACA: Creating a viable individual insurance market in which middle-class people can purchase high-quality insurance at a reasonable price.
70 of New York's 156 hospitals are at risk of closure from federal Medicaid cuts
On Friday, June 13, New York State’s Division of the Budget released its financial plan for this year’s enacted State budget. The financial plan forecasts a national economic slowdown over the next four years as well as dramatic federal budget cuts. These forecasts indicate that the State will likely need to implement tax increases to manage the fallout from federal economic and fiscal policy.
The fiscal year 2026 budget process featured negotiations around major education and child policy matters. Most significantly, lawmakers considered changes to the State’s $26 billion Foundation Aid formula, enacting changes that shift substantial funding away from New York City.
Over 100 organizations signed a letter calling on Congress to protect the essential plan, which provides health insurance to 1.6 million New Yorkers.
3.5 million New Yorkers – 18 percent of the state population – depend on SNAP benefits, which average $209 per month for a participant (about $2,500 per year). The OBBBA would threaten SNAP benefits for over 1 million New Yorkers, including 363,000 children.
The OBBBA spending cuts are concentrated in Medicaid and food stamps (SNAP), with devastating effects for New Yorkers. The bill will cost the New York State government $15.4 billion annually and kick 1.5 million New Yorkers off their health insurance, more than doubling the statewide uninsured population.
Rent Guidelines Board votes to lower range of possible rent increases for 2-year leases Download the Slides Watch the Testimony Last Thursday, FPI’s Chief Economist, Emily Eisner, testified to the Rent Guidelines Board (RGB) of New York City, at the invitation of one of the Board’s Tenant members, Adán Soltren. Dr. Eisner's testimony made the case that current economic conditions and uncertainty regarding federal housing and safety-net policy demand that the RGB [...]
While most coverage of the Republican reconciliation proposals has focused on Medicaid, the largest financial impact on New York’s healthcare system comes from another program – the Essential Plan. The current House Republican budget proposal threatens to cut the program by $7.6 billion or 57 percent, while increasing state Medicaid costs by $2.7 billion.
A reduction of $10 billion in federal Medicaid funding would result in the direct loss of over 78,000 jobs in healthcare across the state and over 136,000 additional jobs lost through economic spillovers.
In this emergency briefing, FPI's health policy director, Michael Kinnucan, discusses the current budget reconciliation proposals to cut Medicaid and how these policies will impact New York State.
In February, Congressional Republicans – including all seven New York representatives – voted for a budget reconciliation package requiring $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next ten years. The reconciliation package set an overall target for spending reductions, but didn’t announce what specifically would be cut from the program. This week, House leadership finally revealed which program areas will be targeted.
The Enacted Budget, while it contains few significant new policy initiatives, allows state spending to recover some of the lost ground from a decade of austerity policies in the 2010s. The most important policy measure in the budget is a long overdue increase in unemployment insurance benefits that will better prepare the State economy for a possible recession (discussed in detail below). The bad news is that the Enacted Budget contains serious fiscal errors, including permanent tax cuts and one-time payments that will cost $3 billion in fiscal year 2026 alone.