WASHINGTON (NEWS10) — Ahead of Tuesday night’s joint session of Congress, a virtual press conference was held to discuss the Trump administration’s attempts to cut programs such as Medicaid.

Democratic Congressman Paul Tonko and his guest Julie Farrar, a disability rights activist and Medicaid recipient, took part in the press conference. They discussed what the cuts could mean for the Capital Region.

“In our Capital District alone, Medicaid insures more than 192,000 individuals, including 77,000 children, 22,000 seniors, and 18,000 children with disabilities,” Tonko said.

“Health care is a human right. Period. End of story,” Farrar said. “And the depravity of a society that decides some people are deserving of healthcare and some people are not, I have no words.”

Republicans are defending the deep budget cuts they have campaigned on for years but have rarely been able to accomplish because the reductions cut into federal programs and services Americans in their districts rely on.

Trump and Musk’s DOGE have fired tens of thousands of federal workers as they tear through the federal government in search of what they call waste, fraud and abuse. Republican leaders are looking to cut even further, enshrining the reductions and other changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other programs into law as part of the budget process.

They are hoping to reach some $2 trillion in cuts to help finance some $4.5 trillion tax breaks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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