Healthcare unions, workers call on Tenney to oppose Medicaid, other cuts
CANANDAIGUA, NY — With a key vote of the House Ways and Means Committee on a federal budget potentially hours away, union healthcare workers and representatives pleaded for a 'no' vote from Rep. Claudia Tenney.
The 2025 federal budget reconciliation package, or the President Donald Trump administration's so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill," includes what opponents say are drastic cuts to Medicaid, education, food assistance and other services and represents a 'direct attack on working people,' said Steve Healy, president of the CSEA Western Region, during a press conference near Tenney's district office in Canandaigua.
Tenney's 24th Congressional District includes a portion of Ontario County.
'We need more investment in healthcare, not less,' Healy said.
The press conference comes after months of demonstrations and protests in Canandaigua and elsewhere in Tenney's sprawling district, where the Medina Memorial Hospital sits. That's where Shayna Rinas works as a patient care technician.
Rinas fears cuts to Medicaid will not only impact jobs in rural communities but will also leave thousands of people without access to care.
'This is a life-and-death situation for many in rural communities,' Rinas said.
Should the budget and cuts contained in it go through as is, life will be harder for those who are not 'ultra wealthy,' who benefit in the tax benefits for them these cuts would fund, said Ken Greenleaf, president of the CSEA Central Region.
'This budget does not reflect the values of upstate New York,' Greenleaf said.
Staff in Tenney's Canandaigua office deferred questions to Tenney's communications director in Washington, D.C. A request for comment was not immediately addressed.
"House Republicans are moving ahead with President Trump's One, Big, Beautiful Bill, working to solidify the promises we made to the American people by strengthening our economy and providing direct tax relief to families, farmers, and small businesses in rural America," Tenney stated, in part, in a press release on May 14 after a committee vote advancing the bill.
Speakers at the press conference said they have tried to reach out to Tenney to bring their concerns to the congresswoman but have been rebuffed.
Rinas and Mark Spadafore, upstate New York polictial director for the 1199SEIU, traveled to Washington, D.C., in March to have a conference with Tenney, but she "had no time for us," Rinas said.
"It was very disheartening," Rinas said.
Mike Murphy covers Canandaigua and other communities in Ontario County and writes the Eat, Drink and Be Murphy food and drink column. Follow him on X at @MPN_MikeMurphy.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Healthcare unions, workers call on Tenney to oppose Medicaid cuts
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