Louis Cappelli Jr.is the Camden County Commissioner Director and a partner in the law firm of Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt, Cappelli, Tipton & Taylor. –
Since taking office on Jan. 20, Donald Trump and his administration have been steadfast in their desire to dismantle the federal government, attack the most vulnerable communities in our nation and slash every safety net provided to Americans from Medicaid to social security, citizenship, federal jobs and more. With every new executive order to come out of the oval office, more and more people become vulnerable to losing basic resources needed for daily life while the wealthiest people and corporations get to enjoy lofty tax cuts.
The most blatant display of this administration’s desire to destroy our country for their own financial gain can be seen in the House GOP’s budget plan for 2025, which directly attacks Americans’ access to healthcare, food, childcare, and more. The plan likely includes hundreds of billions in cuts to Medicaid as well as substantial cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Affordable Care Act in order to give the wealthiest Americans and big corporations $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. This resolution that sets the boundaries for the budget is a disgrace and if implemented as is, it will undoubtedly destroy lives and leave our country in financial and societal ruin.
In total, 72 million Americans rely on Medicaid for healthcare including 1.8 million people in New Jersey. This covers crucial services including pregnancy care, hospital and doctors’ visits, screening and diagnostic tests, prescription drugs and more. In Camden County alone, 134,796 people on Medicaid are at risk of losing their healthcare, including 46,023 children. Altogether, 87,052 residents rely on SNAP to feed themselves and their families. It is the largest anti-hunger program in the country. And the 42,031 people who have coverage under the Affordable Care Act could see their average premium go up by 62 percent with families seeing an even larger climb.
In addition to these egregious attacks on widely used and desperately needed social programs, Trump has unleashed his co-president, Elon Musk, to run wild and fire thousands of crucial federal workers. While there are no official figures on just how many people have been fired or put on administrative leave, Musk has targeted workers in the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Education, the Energy Department, the Department of Health and Human Services, the IRS, the National Park Service and more.
The Trump Administration is delivering on their promises to implement the most extreme and regressive legislation that we have seen in modern times. It is perfectly clear where their priorities lie and it is not with the average American, it is with wealthy corporations and the billionaires.
However bleak the state of our country may seem, all is not lost. There is a razor thin Republican majority in Congress, the narrowest since 1931. This means that we have the ability to stop Trump and his administration in their tracks and prevent the destruction of our government. In order to do so, we need people to start speaking up, directly to their elected Republican officials.
These policies are not popular among the average, working American, regardless of what Trump is trying to portray. More people will be harmed by this legislation than helped and we need to communicate that to Republicans who have the power to make a change.
So, if you are as disturbed by this administration’s actions as I am, I implore you to speak out and make your voice heard. Write, call and visit Republican representatives, Jeff Van Drew, Chris Smith and Tom Kean Jr. to let them know that you will not stand for this blatant misuse of power. We are in this together and only as a collective community can we put a stop to this madness.
Jeff Van Drew
- Northfield Office: 1001 Tilton Road, Suite 101, Northfield NJ, 08225
- (609)-625-5008
- vandrew.house.gov/forms/writeyourrep/?zip5=08225&zip4=
- vandrew.house.gov
Chris Smith
- Ocean County District Office: 33 Washington Street, P.O. Box 728, Toms River, N.J. 08754/or Ocean County District Office, P.O. Box 728, Toms River, N.J. 08754
- (732) 504-0567
- Monmouth County District Office: 1715 Highway 35 North, Suite 303, Middletown, N.J. 07748
- (732) 780-3035
- chrissmith.house.gov/contact/zipauth.htm
- chrissmith.house.gov
Tom Kean Jr.
- Bernardsville District Office: 75 Claremont Road, Suite 206, Bernardsville, N.J. 07924 Additional office locations: kean.house.gov/contact/offices
- (908) 547-3307
- kean.house.gov/address_authentication?form=/contact
- kean.house.gov
About the author: Louis Cappelli Jr. is the Camden County Commissioner Director and a partner in the law firm of Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt, Cappelli, Tipton & Taylor.
This opinion piece reflects the views of the author and not necessarily those of ROI-NJ.
