In this podcast episode, Joanna Pasceri and Jack O’Donnell discuss the implications of the GOP tax and spending plan on New York, particularly focusing on Medicaid and SNAP benefits. They also delve into the current state of the New York City mayoral race, the Democratic strategies for the upcoming 2026 congressional elections, and potential Republican candidates for governor. The episode concludes with a light-hearted introduction of the ODNA team mascot, Martha Washington O’Donnell, and highlights a significant contract awarded to Alstom for train manufacturing in New York.
Summary of this Episode
Guests
- Joanna Pasceri: Director of Communications at O’Donnell and Associates.
- Jack O’Donnell: Managing Partner at O’Donnell and Associates.
Major Topics Covered
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- There are real economic impacts to New York from the GOP tax plan.
- New work requirements for SNAP benefits may harm many New Yorkers.
- Medicaid and the Essential Plan will face significant cuts.
- Preventative care is cheaper than emergency care in the long run.
- New York is looking at $750 million in lost federal dollars this year.
- Zoran Mondami is consolidating support in the mayoral race.
- Democrats are focusing on tying Republicans to unpopular aspects of the tax plan.
- Elise Stefanik is the leading GOP candidate for governor.
- Martha Washington O’Donnell is the new team mascot.
- Alstom’s contract is a win for manufacturing jobs in New York.
Full Transcript of the Episode
Note: This is a generated transcript. Please excuse any typos.
Joanna Pasceri (00:01.612)
Let’s bring in Jack for the latest. Hi Jack, welcome to the podcast.
Jack O’Donnell (00:05.995)
Hi Joanna, great to be with you from the lobby.
Joanna Pasceri (00:09.942)
It’s the $64,000 question, as you would say. How will New York be impacted by this GOP tax and spending plan? You laid out in our memo this week the potential cuts headed New York’s way. Is this doomsday?
Jack O’Donnell (00:26.379)
Well, if you listen to Democrats, it’s absolutely doomsday. And if you listen to Republicans, it’s the dawn of a new era. mean, look, there are definitely real economic impacts to New York, and especially around healthcare and benefits. The biggest impact here immediately is that a lot of New Yorkers who are on SNAP, you know, food stamp program, or what we used to call the Food Stamp Program, there are new work requirements for people who receive those benefits. And so, you know, we’ve heard from New York Democrats that some of those are unfair and there are reasons why people need this help. And that’s absolutely true.
But we’re also hearing from Republicans saying, know, who are working and paying for these programs, want to see other folks do it too. you know, look, I do think there are going to be real harms and there are going to be people who pay this price. But I also think, you know, those political impacts are, you know, those requirements are somewhat popular.
Joanna Pasceri (01:51.007)
At least at first blush, where do you think New York stands to lose the most?
Jack O’Donnell (01:57.036)
Yeah, the biggest impact is going to be on Medicaid and something called the Essential Plan, which the state gets a lot of federal money for and which covers a lot of New Yorkers who don’t quite qualify for Medicaid either because of income requirements or significantly and in new york state and to the political world because they’re their status their immigration status now or to be clear a lot of these people are lawful immigrants you know who are waiting on or going through the the citizenship process and they’re covered by this program but a lot of them are going to lose this coverage and so we’ve seen this in the past and these are the some of the things that drove the affordable care act and the medicaid expansions and i think up to forty states now is that it’s actually a lot cheaper in the long run to give people health care upfront to to care for them and and do preventative care so you know a result is we’re going to see a lot more people in emergency rooms and you know our hospital systems especially some of the rural hospital systems in New York are already crumbling under pressure, well, they’re about to face a lot more pressure.
Joanna Pasceri (03:29.153)
You write in the memo about the New York response to these potential federal cuts. What do you see happening?
Jack O’Donnell (03:36.812)
Yeah, I mean, this is evolving and I think we’re not going to see anything quickly. We heard from the governor and the budget director recently that the state is already looking at $750 million in lost federal dollars just this year and $3 billion next year.
And so, you know, the state assembly conference, the majority conference on Friday and talked about what to do. Definitely a lot of talk about other potential sources of revenue or revenue raisers, which in the real world are new taxes and fees. But I don’t know that there’s gonna be an immediate action by the state. I think one of the things that the governor brought up and and i think is very important to note that the this one big beautiful bill that was passed in washington is is a tax and spending bill but it is not the the the federal budget so and the federal government is kind of speeding towards their october first budget year and some of these appropriations bills are are under work are are underway but a long way to go to get some of that stuff resolved.
Joanna Pasceri (05:06.323)
Interesting. thought that was a great point as well. Well, turning to the red hot race for New York City mayor, the scramble is on to see who stays on the ballot and who goes. So what’s the latest?
Jack O’Donnell (05:19.199)
Well, the latest is that, you know, Zoran Mondami, the assembly member who won the Democratic primary, seems to be consolidating support, certainly among Democratic groups. We saw most recently the New York City Teachers Union endorse him. We’ve seen various elected officials come out over the last couple of weeks, including several council members come out and endorse him. But, you know, in terms of the other folks, the sort of anti-Mandamis, there’s a lot of everybody else should get out of this race. And so we expect to see today or later this week an announcement from Andrew Cuomo that he is plowing ahead with his independent candidacy.
We have heard an awful lot from New York City incumbent mayor Eric Adams, who’s been raising money and very present in the press, kind of laughing at Andrew Cuomo for having lost in a primary and trying to tell him to get out and highlighting Cuomo’s past troubles with other African-American electeds, and then underneath that all is is courtesy the law of the the republican candidate trying to get a little attention himself but with the three of them in this race it it it’s unlikely on that any of them are going to be able to pull ahead of mondami i will say quomo seems to be prepped to to pick september october deadline and and say anyone you know who had his highest in the polls everyone else should drop out. But again, a lot of you should do what I say and not as I do.
Joanna Pasceri (07:21.194)
You also write in the memo how Democrats are already kicking off campaign spending and attacks in the 2026 congressional races. What’s the plan to take back the House?
Jack O’Donnell (07:33.118)
Well, biggest plan is to try to tie Republicans to this one big beautiful bill and some of its less popular pieces. think the whole process was messy. overall, polling on the bill and public sentiment is negative right now to begin with. I think Democrats, and you see this in that first spending, is really around you know how do we try these hospital cuts is medicaid call the cuts how we wrapped them around the neck of of republican members including a couple really vulnerable members in new york but then we’re gonna see a lot of a lot of spending you know it may be an ideal world out of the four hundred and thirty five members of of congress may maybe maybe thirty of them are are really genuinely in play, barring retirements or open seats. the few that are, people like Mike Lawler, Nicole Malliotakis in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and all of Long Island, and a couple of other Democrats in the Hudson Valley, man, we are going to see a lot of money and hyper focus on those particular districts.
Joanna Pasceri (08:57.917)
Governor Hochul also up for reelection next year. Who do you think gets the GOP nod in this race to take her on? And when will we know?
Jack O’Donnell (09:07.795)
Well, I think if Republicans had to make a decision today, it would clearly be Elise Stefanik. mean, she is the loudest kind of Trump voice. And although we’ve seen a little back and forth between her and Mike Lawler, I think the pressure on Mike Lawler to defend that battleground seat, as well as Stefanik’s rhetoric and standing with trump being helpful in a in a republican primary you know i think that means that if if this were the race she would be the candidate you know there’s also some folks talking about Bruce Blakeman is the Nasa County executive who’s up for reelection this year most people including me expect him to win pretty handily for for reelection so we’ll see where where he stands after the november election.
But I would think the end of the year by January, we’ll have a good sense of who the Republican standard bearer is going to be.
Joanna Pasceri (10:12.489)
Well, the big hit in the memo this week, the ODNA team mascot. Tell us about the newest and cutest member of our staff.
Jack O’Donnell (10:20.169)
Well, Martha Washington O’Donnell, I think she is nine weeks old today. We are very excited. I know there’s a picture of a couple of our junior associates with her. And I think you know, and a lot of our lessors probably know, our O’Donnell and Associates World Headquarters here in Buffalo is on Potomac Avenue.
And so sort of a George and Martha Washington theme once in a while here at World Headquarters. And so Martha Washington kind of fit right in and is just put the cuteness quotient over the top. We’re very excited to welcome her to the team.
Joanna Pasceri (11:09.651)
Well, all the best to her is adorable. Check out her picture in our memo this week at odonnelsolutions.com. Do you have a favorite news link?
Jack O’Donnell (11:19.442)
Well, I’ll tell you, you know, we highlighted AllStem who recently were awarded, I believe, $2.3 billion contract from the MTA to build new train sets. These are cars for the Long Island Railroad and Metro-North. And they are gonna be built in on Steuben County in Hornell, New York. And they’ve been working on this over a decade. And I am just so excited to see this contract move forward. It’s the best, I think, of government working, right? State money contributing to good, high paying manufacturing jobs, union jobs in upstate New York, and also providing in this state-of-the-art, the best trains for the best transportation authority in the world, in the MTA. And so, you know, the best of everything kind of coming together and, you know, it was a real honor for our team to play a small role in supporting Alstom as they move forward and won that contract. So couldn’t be happier about that. That’s years and years of work. So just want to highlight that this week.
Joanna Pasceri (12:45.873)
Yes, an awesome new gig for our client. Good luck to them and congratulations. As always, Jack, thanks for the great talk.
