August 7, 2025
On Wednesday morning at Steuben County Legislative Health And Human Services committee meeting, Corning Democrat, County Lawmaker Joe Tobia, went into a six minute rant about the One Big Beautiful Bill. Summed up, Tobia said it would cut $1 trillion dollars over ten years in Medicaid, “the biggest cuts in mental health ever in the history of our country”, Tobia stated. “The cuts in SNAP, it’s just a horrible bill.” Tobia has written a letter, and is asking other members of the Steuben County Legislature about the cuts. “When I wrote the letter, I talked with Hilda (Hilda Lando, Corning Democrat) and I basically said, ‘I don’t care if I’m the only one who signs this bill. It’s just that important to me to get it out to the county, so people can see what’s coming down the pike. We’ve got 32,000 people on Medicaid in Steuben County. 32,000 – that’s a third of our county. What Medicaid reports is that ten percent abuse that privilege, so that means a little over 28,000 pepole in Steuben County who get Medicaid for the right reasons, could lose their medicaid,” Tobia stated. He also stated that the One Big Beautiful Bill “only helps the rich.”
Hornell Republican Paul Van Caeseele also spoke out during the meeting yesterday. “We defintitely need to be aware of what’s coming up with this bill, but I also want to know – is it responsible to say that the sky is falling – before we know how this is going to affect the county,” Van Caeseele said. “As far as I know, from what I’ve heard, I don’t think they’re cutting anything from Medicaid. In fact I think they’re increasing the Medicaid benefits. It’s the SNAP Education that’s-” and then County Lawmaker Joe Tobia jumped in and said, “Not even close.”
Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler said that what he does know for certain is that the Big Beautiful Bill will result in Steuben County getting less money coming in from the federal SNAP program. County Legislative Chair Kelly Fitzpatrick says that those are not cuts to SNAP benefits, but to SNAP educator administrator jobs with Cornell Cooperative Extension. Officials say the Cornell Cooperative Extension SNAP educator program is scheduled to end September 30th of this year, unless the state steps in and saves it.
It should also be noted that Fitzpatrick spoke about being concerned about a relative who is on Medicaid. “I’m more worried about someone like her. So I do think that there are concerns. My only fear with Joe’s letter is that it’s going to completely fall upon deaf ears,” said Fitzpatrick.
