NY Governor Andrew Cuomo

ALBANY – Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced nearly $6.5 million in grants to 55 state-approved anti-sexual assault crisis and prevention programs operated by hospitals, non-profit organizations and governmental agencies statewide.

The grants will fund a variety of existing programs, including 24-hour crisis hotlines, crisis counseling, trauma therapy, referrals to support services for both victims and their families, training for advocates, court accompaniment for victims and criminal justice advocacy.

In addition, the funding will support community education, training for advocates and sexual assault forensic examiners, and prevention efforts in both community and educational settings, including schools, hospitals and on college campuses.

Programs receiving funding in Western New York were:

• Cattaraugus Community Action, Inc.: $108,800
• YWCA of Niagara County: $71,000
• Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York: $270,600
• Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services, Inc.: $166,700
• The Salvation Army: $68,500

Donald Trump

WASHINGTON – The poor and the disabled are big losers in President Donald Trump’s $4.1 trillion budget proposal, while the Pentagon is a big winner.

The president’s plan for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 was delivered to Congress on Tuesday.  It calls for deep cuts in safety net programs, including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The proposal also calls for big cuts in Social Security’s disability program.

According to the Associated Press, the proposed budget would slash Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program by $616 billion over the next decade. It would also cut the food stamp program by $191 billion and would cut funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program by $22 billion. And Trump’s budget calls for cutting Social Security disability benefits by nearly $70 billion over the next decade by encouraging and, in some cases, requiring people receiving the benefits to re-enter the workforce.

As far as regional impacts, Trump’s budget would eliminate the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Chesapeake Bay Program, saving $427 million next year.

The budget would also prohibit any funding for certain entities that provide abortions, including Planned Parenthood.

Meanwhile, defense spending and border security would get significant boosts, with the proposal adding $469 billion to defense spending over the next decade, while also including $2.6 billion for border security technology, including money to design and build a wall along the southern border.

The budget plan also calls for an increase for the Veterans Administration, including $29 billion over the next decade for the Choice program. The program allows veterans to seek outside medical care from private doctors.

REACTION TO BUDGET PLAN

Some members of congress have already said the proposed spending plan is dead on arrival, because it is too austere for Democrats and most moderate Republicans.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

During a conference call with media on Tuesday morning, Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) said he hadn’t yet thoroughly reviewed the budget proposal, so he wasn’t going to offer an evaluation. However, he did say that the budget was a good starting point for lawmakers in Washington to have the conversation about spending and how to prioritize what’s most important for the American people.

“I think this was a good start, in the sense of the president putting out in black and white what his vision is, and it allows us to engage in what I believe definitely needs to happen – we need to have a conversation about priorities in America,” Reed said.  “The $21 trillion in national debt that is building each and every day is not sustainable. We have to get the spending under control. We need to grow this economy, because if you reduce the spending at the same time you grow, we can tackle this national debt crisis that is looming on the horizon.”

Reed wouldn’t specifically say if he supported the full cut for Medicaid and other safety net programs being proposed by the president, but did say it’s something Congress needs to look at.

“Do I believe we can do Medicaid in a more effecient, effective manner? Absolutely. So if that means we can do it more efficiently and save hard working taxpayer dollars, I think that is a step in the right direction when it comes to looking at the program, reviewing the program when it comes to Medicaid. And as to what numbers that could result in when it comes to a reduction in expenditures, we’ll let good policy drive those numbers,” Reed said.

Governor Andrew Cuomo also released a statement on the budget, saying it’s an egregious attack on the values and priorities that built this state and this nation. He said the radical conservative agenda in Washington is putting corporations before people and billionaires before vulnerable New Yorkers, and the consequences would be catastrophic.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Planned Parenthood is on the verge of losing federal funding.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have pledged that the government will no longer support the clinics if they continue to perform abortions. Members of Congress are linking the cuts to a budget bill that would also repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Planned Parenthood affiliates received more than $550 million in government funding from 2014 to 2015, totaling more than 40 percent of their total revenue. Most of the money went toward health care for patients on public programs like Medicaid, and Planned Parenthood can’t legally use the money to perform abortions, but some argue the government is providing a financial cushion for the clinics.

As a result, Republican members of Congress say their problem isn’t with Planned Parenthood, but with the abortion services the clinics provide.

Chautauqua County’s representative in Washington, Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23), told WRFA earlier this week he supports many of the services Planned Parenthood offers and he thinks lawmakers can find a way to ensure those services continue, even if not provided by Planned Parenthood.

“I’m very confident that what will occur is what has been demonstrated previously. that the resources that are going to Planned Parenthood are available to things like federally qualified health centers, for example, in rural settings, so that women have access to healthcare. And that the existing law of not having taxpayer funded abortions will be respected and promoted as we go forward,” Reed said.

Reed also said that no matter the final outcome with Planned Parenthood funding, he thinks women’s healthcare will be improved.

“As this debate ripens up, obviously Planned Parenthood is an issue that has come up before and it will come up again. But as we go into the debate, I’m confident that in the end result, we will have a situation where women’s healthcare and access to healthcare is enhanced and improved upon.”

President-elect Donald Trump also supports pulling funding from Planned Parenthood.

But even facing the likely cuts, Planned Parenthood says its clinics will stay open and continue to provide abortions.

The bill undoing the president’s prized overhaul will be the first order of business for the House, marking a sharply partisan start on Capitol Hill to a congressional year in which legislating may take a back seat to politics.

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) said that in addition to repealing Obamacare, House republicans are expected to put forward their own alternative plan that he says would, among other things, reduce healthcare costs.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

“Allowing insurance to be bought across state lines. That’s a well known proposal that’s out there and I think has common ground for us to use market forces to force the carriers to compete for the business,” Reed said. “When it comes to tort reform and getting defensive medicine out of the system. I think there’s a lot of agreement that could be reached there if we took on that issue. And going after waste, fraud and abuse. Those are the low hanging fruit areas of medicare and medicaid where we may be able to have some small victories that lead to bigger victories.”

Meanwhile, the measure to repeal Obamacare already has passed the Senate under special rules protecting it from Democratic obstruction.

Despite dozens of past votes to repeal the health law in full or in part, Republicans never before have succeeded in sending a full repeal bill to the White House.

They insist that doing so will fulfill promises to their constituents while highlighting the clear choice facing voters in the November presidential election.

Obama will veto the health law repeal bill, which also would cut money for Planned Parenthood.

Republicans will then schedule a veto override vote for Jan. 22, when anti-abortion activists hold their annual march in Washington to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in 1973 that legalized abortion.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Several representatives in Washington DC, including Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY-23), want to suspend funding for the Planned Parenthood due to the recent controversy surrounding the organization and allegations it was selling tissue and organs from aborted fetuses for medical research.

Congressman Tom Reed vote Friday in support of legislation that will temporarily suspend federal funding to Planned Parenthood, and divert the funding to other Federal Qualified Health Care Centers. Reed said that by doing so, the access to women’s healthcare throughout the region will be preserved while officials continue to investigate the allegations against planned parenthood.

The total vote was 241-187.

The second piece of legislation extends additional rights to children born as a result of a failed abortion and requires medical personnel involved in the procedure to do make every effort to save the life of the child. That bill passed 248-177.

The temporary funding suspension will be for one year providing the House Judiciary Committee with enough time to conclude its ongoing investigation into the alleged conduct.

Democrats said the proposed changes to the born-alive protection bill are overly broad, and intended to intimidate abortion providers out of practice.

President Obama has already said he plans to veto the legislation.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) is showing her support for Planned Parenthood.

On Wednesday Thursday the state’s junior senator spoke on the Senate floor against the latest partisan threat to shut down the federal government as a means to defund Planned Parenthood.

The women’s healthcare provider receives just over $500 million in federal funding every year to provide essential preventative services, including breast exams, cancer screenings and immunizations, as well as adoption referrals and pediatric care.

Conservatives have taken issue with Planned Parenthood because they claim the organization is helping women receive abortions using tax payer money. However, Gillibrand points out that federal dollars are prohibited from funding abortion services – which make up just 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s work – unless in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.

Gillibrand said that by defunding the program, lawmakers in Washington are telling women, primarily in low-income communities, and many women of color, that they won’t have access to a wide range of essential health services, because of an ideological desire to control what choices are made between a woman and her doctor.