GOP Congressional Budget Plan Will Harm Essex County Residents, Commissioner Board Says

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The Essex County Board of Commissioners has taken a stance on the ongoing federal budget battle that is playing out in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

On Wednesday, the board unanimously passed a symbolic resolution that opposes a Republican-led spending plan, which they claim will “drastically cut health care and other vital services” for thousands of Essex County residents. Each current member of the board is a Democrat.

Read the full resolution below, or view it online here.

President Donald Trump has claimed there are no plans to touch Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security under the spending blueprint, which is still working its way through Congress. It’s a statement that he has repeated “over and over again,” according to White House spokespeople, who say U.S. taxpayers lose as much as $521 billion annually to fraud — and most of that is within programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.

After a key budget vote in April, U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey said the resolution will allow Congress to “begin the hard work of drafting the actual budget that allows us to advance President Trump's agenda and restore fiscal responsibility.”

“Anyone who tells you this resolution includes cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security is not telling you the truth,” Van Drew said. “I have been in constant communication with House leadership and the Speaker, making it clear that any bill that threatens these critical programs will not get my support.”

Some experts have insisted that Republicans’ proposals can’t be accomplished without slashing Medicaid and other important social service programs, however.

New Jersey’s Democratic contingent in Congress has been blasting the GOP plan, saying that it will take money out of the pockets of lower and middle-class Americans and put it into the wallets of the rich.

This week, the Essex County Board of Commissioners sided with their Democratic peers in Congress.

According to a statement from the board of commissioners:

“GOP-led majorities in both houses of Congress passed a federal budget resolution in April laying out a blueprint to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from programs including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Through their responding resolution, the board of commissioners called on the New Jersey Congressional Delegation to reject spending bills that include huge cuts to these important programs.”

The stakes are high, the board claims:

“In New Jersey, approximately 1.8 million low and moderate-income people rely on NJ FamilyCare, which encompasses the state Medicaid program and CHIP, to cover their health care needs – and more than 200,000 people in Essex County. Approximately 830,000 New Jersey residents receive SNAP benefits, which provide them with the resources needed to feed their families, including 134,000 in Essex County. It is estimated that the budget plan could cost the state of New Jersey up to $9.4 billion annually in federal Medicaid funding. Proposed cuts to SNAP would force the state to limit benefits and restrict eligibility, pushing hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans toward food insecurity.”

The resolution was proposed by Commissioner Brendan Gill and sponsored by acclamation from all nine commissioners. Montclair-based advocacy nonprofit BlueWaveNJ commented in support of the resolution’s passage.

“These devastating cuts will harm some of the most vulnerable New Jersey and Essex County residents, honest and hardworking people, just to pay for huge tax cuts for the very wealthy,” said Gill, a Montclair resident.

“It’s boldfaced cruelty at a time of rising costs and drastic income inequality,” he added.

Andrew Sprung, co-chair of BlueWaveNJ's health care committee, said the cuts would “wreak havoc” on the state budget, as well as on hospitals and other providers.

“We call on the New Jersey congressional delegation – including the three Republicans who voted for a budget resolution calling for cuts on this scale – to reject inflicting this kind of damage on their constituents,” Sprung said.

• Read More: House Budget Bill Could Slash Medicaid (See How NJ Reps Voted)

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