Thunderstorms didn’t deter residents from crowding outside a GOP fundraiser in Poughkeepsie Tuesday night, just hours after the Senate’s passage. The budget bill would extend and expand Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and slash federal spending by placing more restrictions on Medicaid, SNAP, and clean energy programs.
Opponents say it would effectively steal from the poor to give tax breaks to the rich. As New York Congressman Mike Lawler pulled into the Grandview parking lot, they made sure to tell him.
"Shame! Shame!" they shouted from the crowd, pointing their protest signs toward his vehicle.
Lawler did not return a request for comment from WAMC, but he and other New York Republicans will play a role in how the bill shakes out in the Republican-controlled House.
Lawler, who represents the more “purple” 17th District to the south, is mulling a run for governor in 2026. He supported the House’s version earlier this year, pushing his colleagues to include a provision that would raise the cap on state and local tax deductions in New York. The Senate’s version also lifts the SALT cap, but not for as long as the House’s version, bringing it back down in 2030.
At a press conference Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was disappointed to see some GOP critics in the Senate, like Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, ultimately vote for the bill. He urged House Republicans not to follow suit, and said Democrats would ramp up protests in the coming weeks.
“We’re gonna be in their states in every way," said Schumer. "We are gonna have all the people who were hurt organized. You’re going to see a constant, constant battle in those states, reminding people day-in and day-out what happened.”
Many of those protesting in Poughkeepsie Tuesday were Lawler’s constituents, who drove up from the lower Hudson Valley. Stan Freilich, of Garrison, doesn’t name Lawler in his main reason for protesting, but puts him in the same camp as President Trump.
“I’m here because Trump lied about everything in his campaign. I’ve noticed that the war in Ukraine is not over, which he promised on Day 1," he notes. "The war in Gaza is not over, as he promised on Day 1. And we have a new war between Iran and Israel where we’re dropping thousand-pound bombs, starting another war."
Lawler has touted his status as one of the most bipartisan members of Congress. Ann Starrer doesn’t buy that. She’s part of the group “Fight Lawler,” which has been protesting the congressman at his events.
“I just find him to be spineless. I used to think there would be a hope of having some sort of civil discourse, because none of the things that we on the so-called radical left — which is not what we are, we are many people from all walks of life — but none of what I’m talking about, certainly, is hardly revolutionary," says Starrer. "What he’s talking about certainly is radical and revolutionary and horribly devastating to humanity.”
Lawler has maintained in town halls that the House version of the bill wouldn’t cut the federal government’s share toward base Medicaid costs, but he supports the idea of adding work requirements, which would inevitably cause some people to lose coverage. The Senate version of the bill applies those work requirements to even more people, including parents of older children.
Veteran Joe Mayhew says he has relatives on Medicaid who work jobs that aren’t always consistent, like contractor gigs and seasonal work. He’s warned Lawler at town halls that just one cancelled job or illness could derail someone’s healthcare.
“Folks on Medicaid are working. The ones who aren’t are disabled or taking care of disabled people," says Mayhew. "They tried to do this in Georgia, it did not work. It didn’t get any more people working. What it did, though, is it threw people off Medicaid who were eligible and should have stayed on.”
Many of those who spoke with WAMC, like Poughkeepsie resident Muriel Horowitz, said they weren’t optimistic that picketing would change their lawmakers’ minds — or if Lawler even heard them on his way in — but that they had no choice but to keep protesting.
“I have a son with a disability who, if Medicaid goes, Lord only knows what’s going to happen to his life," she says. "To give money to the rich at the expense of the people who can least afford it, it's just cruel. And I can't stand for cruelty."
Both chambers of Congress need to pass identical versions of the budget before President Trump can sign it.
