Health Care, Disability Groups Protest Malliotakis Vote on Big Beautiful Bill

Several dozen healthcare and disability advocates gathered in front of the Brooklyn office of Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis on Monday to protest her vote for the Big Beautiful Bill.

Protesters were outraged with the bill, signed into law on Friday by President Donald Trump, which is estimated to cut health care for abut 1.5 million New Yorkers.

"Shame on Nicole!" the 50 or so protesters from 1199 SEIU, Housing Works and the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York (CIDNY) chanted. "You can't hide, we charge you with genocide! Nicole voted for the rich, not for us!"

The law would also lead to an estimated $8 billion cut to hospitals, and 34,000 hospital jobs could be lost.

Malliotakis said she voted for the bill because it would provide tax relief to many Americans.

"Our Big Beautiful Bill puts America first by strengthening our borders and military and delivering tax relief for American workers, middle-class families, and senior citizens," Malliotakis said in a statement on July 3. "Not passing this bill would have jeopardized all these America-First policies and led to a crushing $4 trillion tax increase on American families and businesses with New Yorkers seeing an average 22% tax hike."

Protesters who gathered on Monday in Bay Ridge largely disagreed with her vote.

"We know that this will hurt older New Yorkers, the disabled, children, families, all New Yorkers!" said Jeff Peters, the director of communications of CIDNY. "Hospitals will close. Nursing homes will close. These are not the cuts we needed."

Housing Works Advocacy, a nonprofit that works with homelessness and the HIV community, said the cuts eliminate the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) program, and threaten HIV care and housing support throughout the city.

"She has a price to pay," said Anthony Feliciano, vice president of Advocacy at Housing Works. "We need to fight, to get to work more closer than ever. This is about making her feel the way we feel. She'll have no choice but to care."

Carol Greenburg, who, along with her son, is on the autism spectrum, said she is concerned that the cuts would place her son in an institution.

"There's no shame in being disabled," she said. "He deserves all of the services...[and] to be treated like a full human being."

During the protest, many who were walking or driving by beeped their horns or cheered in solidarity. A few passersby rolled their eyes, and one man tried picking a fight with the protesters. But overall, the rally went smoothly.

Bay Ridge resident Laura Caruso, a nurse with Housing Works, said she was horrified by Malliotakis' vote.

"People are scared over what they're going to lose," she said. "I want to hear from her about how she thinks this is good."

The door to the congresswoman's office opened twice when two people came and went. No one spoke to them, and they ignored the rally.

Representatives from Malliotakis' office did not reply to BK Reader when asked to comment about the rally.