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Connor O’Brien is worried about potential federal funding cuts for the University of Rochester.
She is not just concerned for the university, however, but how losing a reported $188 million in National Institutes of Health research funding will impact the entire Rochester region. And she thinks more people should be worried too.
“Strong Hospital and UR are some of the largest employers in the Rochester area. So, when we cut the research funding to that, how many other things happen?” says O’Brien, who is a steering committee member of Knowledge & Action Rochester and member of Indivisible Rochester. “A whole lot of money is at stake, just in the research and development alone. But then it spreads out from there.
“If people are starting to lose that money, then what about people who are working at UR? What about people with businesses near UR? What about the effect on the people who are suffering from the illnesses that we’re losing the research on?” she continues. “The number of things that are being cut simply make no sense and they are not in the interest of the average person.”
Tomorrow, the organizations O’Brien is associated with will join a “Hands Off!” rally at Cobbs Hill Park where speakers will give personal testimonies about that subject and others. Besides Indivisible Rochester and Knowledge & Action Rochester, progressive action groups including Rochester NOW and the Rochester chapter of Pride at Work AFL-CIO are coordinating the event. The rally is also supported by 50501 Rochester, Greater Rochester Integrity and Truth, and Veterans for Peace.
The theme of “Hands Off!” refers to efforts by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who currently heads the Department of Government Efficiency, to slash federal employment and a broad range of government programs.
“Massive job and program cuts will harm nearly every aspect of the society that we have developed since World War II, including public education, LGBTQ+ rights, national security, immigration, medical research and trade policies,” a statement from Indivisible Rochester reads. “Even our founding principles of freedom of speech, separation of powers, rights to privacy and the very essence of rule of law are at risk.”
The “Hands Off” protest demands include an end to:
■ the “billionaire takeover, arrogant incompetence, and rampant corruption of the Trump administration”;
■ slashing federal funding for Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs for working people; and
■ the “attacks on immigrants, trans people, and other communities.”
After a short march around Cobbs Hill Park, the rally will feature a broad spectrum of speakers. O’Brien says they are intended to put a human face on the funding and staffing cuts. For example, as a retiree, she relies on Social Security for her finances.
“To wake up in the morning and think, ‘I wonder if my check is going to come? I wonder if they’re going to cut it?’ Who wants to live in a world where you’re so insecure about what’s going to happen to your future next month? And why this is being decided by an unelected billionaire is just beyond me,” she says.
Similar to the impact on the UR funding, the rally also intends for speakers to draw attention to how these federal plans will affect Rochester in ways people may be unaware of.
“How many people hear about the cuts to USAID and think, ‘Wow, that’s going to end all of the contracts with all of the farmers in Upstate New York?’ People aren’t dotting those lines, they’re unaware of it,” O’Brien notes as an example.
USAID-Stop Work, a website tracking the impact of the USAID cuts, reported that 286 out of 366 programs in New York were “abruptly terminated” with this recent policy change. It estimates that the state stands to lose $1.9 billion for “small businesses, healthcare organizations, universities, faith-based groups, and more.”
The “Hands Off!” rally also aims to inspire future action, such as connecting with other like-minded people and organizations that will be in attendance.
Organizers say that being involved in local issues, calling elected politicians, or running for office are all actions they hope attendees will take. Just sharing stories can help, O’Brien believes.
“If one person stands up and tells their story, that gives power to the next person to stand up too,” she says. “We want people to make their voices heard and object to the violation of due process. Our fundamental rights in our Constitution are being ignored and run roughshod and people need to know that, people need to care about that, and people need to stand up and say no.”
The “Hands Off!” rally will be held at Cobbs Hill Park on Saturday, April 5, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. O’Brien says ASL interpreters and accommodations for individuals requiring wheelchairs or seating will be available.
Jacob Schermerhorn is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and data journalist.
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
What do they accomplish? Good question. In these times they seem futile. However, they provide solidarity for the people involved, and a message to those on the fence that these issues affect us directly. Politicians pay attention to these, the people willing to protest are also the people likely to vote, influence others, and donate. Agreed one day of protests may do little, but little things add up. Consider this study on the effectiveness of peaceful protest. https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p08sw0ft/what-is-the-most-effective-form-of-protest-
I’m not clear on what purpose these rallies serve. They don’t tell us anything we don’t already know. They don’t change the minds of any of Trump’s sheep. They don’t change the fact that Trump controls the White House. They don’t change the fact that Co-President Musk controls the structure of the federal government. They don’t change the fact that the Trumpublicans control the House and the Senate. They don’t change the fact that a sold majority of the Supreme Court is made up of GOP-appointed justices who have already handed Trump a blank check to run a literal autocracy. And most importantly, they don’t stop the so-called “progressives” (who helped elect Trump in 2016 by trashing Hillary and then being too pure and holy to vote for her after their messiah Bernie lost in the primaries) from continuing to drag the Democratic Party further to the Left (and further into the political wilderness) when it’s obvious that the only salvation for the party and the country is for the Democrats to move to the center where we can try to protect what’s left of the social gains made over the past 70 years. The Trumpublicans don’t know much about how to run a government, but they do know that getting elected is more important than anything else. A rally such as yesterday’s won’t elect a single Democrat.
Though I can’t be there in person today, I am so grateful to all who have organized this and who is showing up in support. Truth to power! I pray the energy generated by these protests that are now nationwide will bring forth constructive solutions to replace the toxic environment and actions from the current administration, if it can even be called that.
It’s about making the government solvent, cut wasteful spending and stop funding foreign and domestic programs that drain our treasury. Focus on health, nutrition and skill building not fake news.
So in your version of reality, a guy who bankrupted six companies and crashed and burned a dozen start ups, aided by a guy with zero government experience (except for cashing annual government checks for billions of dollars) and who controls the company that builds the most recalled vehicles on the planet are efficiency experts, qualified to start cutting federal departments and payrolls without first determining what those departments and employees are actually doing?
Is it? Are you sure? Neither side supports insolvency or wasteful spending. One of the three major causes of our debt is the extraordinary amount we spend on health care, and yet we are ranked lower than most western nations in quality of care. That could easily be solved by a single payer system as those higher rated advanced countries have. Who is going to focus on nutrition if there is no staff to give it the attention it needs? If that’s what interests you support focusing on it, but someone is going to be needed to be there to do the focusing. Skill building? Eliminating educational programs is counter productive to skill building. Do programs “drain” our treasury? Yes, programs have a cost, but as we can see already in Myanmar the cost of the US not being there is even greater.
All of Labor and our allies will also be at Cobbs Hill on April 5th. The horror stories of the current administration already could fill a book. The rich white wing never could figure out Robin Hood and almost always side with King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham. I lost my closest friend since I was a teenager to Parkinsons last July. Larry was a year older than me and when I was going into my senior year in high school, Larry was going into the Army infantry. He spent part of 1969 and most of 1970 in Vietnam. He then spent over forty years in the Postal Service and took a part time job when he retired. He was my Sgt. At Arms for many years in our local union. He was popular with his co-workers and supervisors and had a huge heart, but if you were looking for trouble, he did not back up an inch. Larry’s Parkinsons was very progressive and nothing slowed it down. Within months he was using a walker. The VA was contacted and after determining there was no Parkinsons in his family going back generations they approved a partial disability mainly for reasonable accommodation, you know, DEI. Larry was in the field when we dropped millions of tons of Agent Orange on everything and everyone. They paid for the wheelchair in which he spent his last eight months. They built ramps for his modest home and vehicle so his wife could get him to Dr’s appointments and therapy. Vets are about one third of the thousands in the Federal workforce that have been kicked to the side to set the stage for massive privatization. For over forty years we have seen it result in increased costs to taxpayers, fewer and lower paid employees, and a decrease in services because the private sector is in business to maximize profits for executives/shareholders. Anyone that thinks the private health care system, at twice the cost of the other thirty-two high income democracies that cover all citizens, rather than hiring our own government doctors and nurses will lower the deficit has no math skills. The personal wound here is the head of HHS, a heroin addict for the better part of a generation, who is not a doctor and has not even an undergraduate degree in any science, last week fired Dr. Richard Youle. Dr. Youle just won an award considered the Oscar of Life Science as his groundbreaking research identified the mechanisms behind Parkinsons, necessary to develop effective treatment and even a cure. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are beautiful words that mean no more than Civil Rights and Equal Rights. The only real affirmative action we have had since the Founding Fathers is racism where the lowest white guy is more qualified than the most educated, experienced, and successful black guy. This is the entire Cabinet. See the angry, sexist drunk from Fox heading the Defense Department who fired the black head of the Joint Chiefs who had forty years’ experience, including as a fighter jet pilot in combat.
This is the tip of the iceberg. It is not only at home, but we have also now disgusted and become a pariah to the rest of the free world. To my knowledge, there are no democratic voters flying Confederate and Nazi flags. I know who the traitors are.
Thank you to Rochester Beacon and Mr. Schermerhorn for this informative article about how Federal cuts affect the local economy and the people who live in the Rochester area.
Some of us knew that were Trump elected this would happen. An “I told you so” statement is not helpful other than to ask people who thought Trump’s policies and administration would be good for our county if they would like choose again knowing now what they didn’t know before.
Every penny of the funds whose demise are being decried is being borrowed, much of it from abroad. We have a $2 trillion federal deficit —- nearly $6,000 per year for every American. That’s the reality the protestors don’t seem to want to confront.
The reality not confronted is the overwhelming majority of the deficit is from fiscally conservative GOP Presidents. In Trump’s previous four years he finished owning almost 25% of the deficit over nearly two and a half centuries. Musk and DOGE have not found any fraud and are making massive cuts at the IRS that brings in $13, and growing, for every dollar spent. The additional income is mostly from the super wealthy and rich corporations avoiding taxes. DOGE has not gone near the military that has never come close to passing an audit and cannot even account for the military assets purchased. Musk won’t go there because he averages $8 million a day from that budget. Trump has already increased the deficit via the Continuing Resolution by again increasing the military by billions. We have not even gotten to his planned trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy and rich corporations. The GOP’s past performance has no credibility on the deficit issue.
“Every penny”? What is the source of your information? Thank you.
The Federal Budget and the CBO. If you look at the numbers, Mandated Spending, Defense and interest on the federal debt consume just about 100% of federal revenue. Non-Defense Discretionary Spending —- which is where the bulk of the above referenced cuts are classified — is pretty much identical to the total deficit. You can see the numbers in the CBO’s Monthly Budget Review
Yes sir, you are correct, we are over our heads in debt. No reasonable person can argue against audits, reviews and steps to reduce our deficits, but this bull in the china shop approach makes no sense. However the reaction is also due to the hamfisted amateurish manner cuts are being made. Musk’s use of a chainsaw approach has no rhyme nor reason. It doesn’t help that Musk/Trump and theirs are not affected by the cuts or that Trump is making this some kind of personal retribution rather than a fiscally sound strategy.
In support of your argument , https://www.pgpf.org/national-debt-clock/
THis is all a smoke screen so the Orange Idiot can give the top 1% another tax break by extending the one that is going to expire. Joe Biden had turned the economy around from the mess tRump left him in 2021, and in 2 months tRUMP has taken the country backwards AGAIN. Admit it you were suckered again.
Seems like the admonition here is that CNY doesn’t have a economy anymore, it exists simply as a “battle of the forms” for the next Government grant. (with elected leaders whose major bailiwick is to facilitate this defacto process.) The current administration already has a “hands-off” policy for Medicare and Social Security.