WEBVTT
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Calling in today is Senator George Borrello, New York State
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Senator with Common Sense from Chautauqua County. And, well, Senator,
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I mean, there's so many things happening. Where do you
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want to start?
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Well, John, first of all, whether it's Chautauqua County or
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whether it's New York City or anywhere in between, we're
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realizing now how much New York State overtaxes its citizens.
8
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In fact, the nonpartisan watchdog group, the Citizens Budget Commission,
9
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just found that New York State local governments collecting on
10
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average about $ 12, 500 per person per year, which is the
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highest in the nation. It's even 22% higher than the
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state of California, which has a reputation for being high
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in taxes. So when, whether it's Governor Hochul or it's
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Zoram Amdani talk about taxing the rich, we're taxing everyone
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and well beyond any other state in the nation. And
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it's why we lead the nation in out-migration. More people
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leave New York State for places like New Jersey, not
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just Florida and Texas, but New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which
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are the top two states that people leave New York for.
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We need to have change. We need to put more
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money into people's pockets and less into this massive government
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overspending machine.
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And tell us, there's so many problems. You know, I
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love New York City. I love New York State. I
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love us. You know, I've lived here all my life.
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What can we do to fix things? Where is the
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common sense? You are in the state Senate. And how
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is the state Senate going? Because you have checks and
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balances if you have the right numbers.
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Well, that's really what it's about. If you have looked,
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you know, the last time we had divided government, balanced government,
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when the Republicans were in charge in the New York
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State Senate, which ended at the beginning of 2019, is
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the last time we saw, quite frankly, responsible spending. Since then,
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the budget back then was about $ 170 billion with a B. Now,
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fast forward here, basically... seven budget cycles, and it's $ 277 billion.
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So you went from $ 170 to $ 277 billion under one
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party Democrat rule. And in that period of time, we've
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also had a huge increase in fraud and abuse, particularly
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in Medicaid. Medicaid now consumes about half of New York
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State's budget, and there's been no appetite to actually address
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the fraud, waste, and abuse. And this is what common
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sense folks like Tom DiNapoli, who's a fellow Democrat, has
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said about the fraud, waste, and abuse in programs like Medicaid.
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So this is not about we don't tax enough and
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we have to tax more. This is about New York
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State spending too much and not addressing the wastefulness in
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those programs like Medicaid.
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You know, we've talked about Medicaid before. And, you know,
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we talked about that Florida was like $ 25 billion that
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has more people than New York. And how did we
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get to $ 125 billion in New York?
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Well, again, because we've allowed these programs to grow out
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of control. First and foremost, we don't address the fraudulent
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part of Medicaid. And I'm not just talking about people
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that aren't eligible that are on Medicaid. That's certainly a
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big part of it. But I'm talking about the billions
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of dollars in fraudulent billing that just isn't real. You
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have providers that are billing for services that they're not providing.
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We saw recently an exposure of a program in Queens
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where a group has billed over $ 200 million for what
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was supposed to be senior dayhab programs. That was a
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total fraud. There were something like 77... senior day have
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programs in like a two-mile radius in Queens, most of
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which were fraudulent. And yet we have an attorney general
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here in New York State that rates last 50th out
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of 50 for convicting people of Medicaid fraud. So it's
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a perfect storm of fraud, waste, and abuse that has
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resulted in New York State taxing its citizens more than
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any other state in the nation. So we have to
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draw that line, that common sense line between waste, fraud,
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and abuse and the fact that we overtax our citizens,
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which is driving businesses and families out of New York
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State at a record pace.
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No, it's very, very sad. Is there anybody doing any
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checks and balances at all?
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Well, look, we try to call this out in the
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New York State Senate, in particular in the Republican Conference.
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We've called out the fraud, waste, and abuse. Like I said,
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we've even had bipartisan support from Tom DiNapoli. And there
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are others that have called this out. But you need
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to have the political will to not just call it out,
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but for people to actually take action. And that's where
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we need a change in leadership. particularly at the executive level.
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We need a strong executive branch that is willing to
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root out the fraud, waste, and abuse. And you have
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a federal government right now that's basically saying, we're not
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going to fund this anymore. You know, my Democrat colleagues
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and Governor Hochul are wringing their hands over federal cuts,
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but what the federal government is saying is we're no
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longer going to borrow money to fund your fraudulent programs
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in New York State. That's coming to an end. So
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now it comes down to what are we going to do?
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Are we going to root out the fraud, waste, and abuse,
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or are you going to cut legitimate claims out? Are
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you going to kick people off of programs like Medicaid
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that truly deserve it and need it because you're unwilling
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to address the fraud in the program? That's where we
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are in New York State now, and it's very concerning.
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Understood. Anything else you want to tell all New Yorkers
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and all American people?
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Well, we're getting down to the wire here in this
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election cycle, John, and it's time for New Yorkers to
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wake up and vote for a change in leadership. Right now,
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all I see is people throwing bombs about Trump, but
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at the end of the day, your quality of life
107
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every day is really impacted more by what happens in
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Albany than Washington, D.C. Vote accordingly.
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I agree with you. And Senator George Borrello, let's pray
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for common sense to prevail. Amen.
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Calling in today is Senator George Borrello, New York State
2
00:00:04.419 --> 00:00:10.800
Senator with Common Sense from Chautauqua County. And, well, Senator,
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00:00:10.939 --> 00:00:13.880
I mean, there's so many things happening. Where do you
4
00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:14.380
want to start?
5
00:00:16.070 --> 00:00:18.899
Well, John, first of all, whether it's Chautauqua County or
6
00:00:18.940 --> 00:00:22.940
whether it's New York City or anywhere in between, we're
7
00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.140
realizing now how much New York State overtaxes its citizens.
8
00:00:26.519 --> 00:00:30.300
In fact, the nonpartisan watchdog group, the Citizens Budget Commission,
9
00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:36.320
just found that New York State local governments collecting on
10
00:00:36.340 --> 00:00:38.960
average about $ 12, 500 per person per year, which is the
11
00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:42.049
highest in the nation. It's even 22% higher than the
12
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state of California, which has a reputation for being high
13
00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:48.469
in taxes. So when, whether it's Governor Hochul or it's
14
00:00:48.490 --> 00:00:51.590
Zoram Amdani talk about taxing the rich, we're taxing everyone
15
00:00:51.990 --> 00:00:55.079
and well beyond any other state in the nation. And
16
00:00:55.090 --> 00:00:58.159
it's why we lead the nation in out-migration. More people
17
00:00:58.200 --> 00:01:00.939
leave New York State for places like New Jersey, not
18
00:01:00.979 --> 00:01:03.820
just Florida and Texas, but New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which
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00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.420
are the top two states that people leave New York for.
20
00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:09.379
We need to have change. We need to put more
21
00:01:09.439 --> 00:01:13.799
money into people's pockets and less into this massive government
22
00:01:13.859 --> 00:01:14.719
overspending machine.
23
00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:20.879
And tell us, there's so many problems. You know, I
24
00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:22.959
love New York City. I love New York State. I
25
00:01:23.019 --> 00:01:25.920
love us. You know, I've lived here all my life.
26
00:01:27.230 --> 00:01:31.739
What can we do to fix things? Where is the
27
00:01:31.780 --> 00:01:37.829
common sense? You are in the state Senate. And how
28
00:01:37.909 --> 00:01:40.129
is the state Senate going? Because you have checks and
29
00:01:40.150 --> 00:01:42.069
balances if you have the right numbers.
30
00:01:43.450 --> 00:01:45.709
Well, that's really what it's about. If you have looked,
31
00:01:45.730 --> 00:01:49.670
you know, the last time we had divided government, balanced government,
32
00:01:49.689 --> 00:01:52.090
when the Republicans were in charge in the New York
33
00:01:52.109 --> 00:01:54.870
State Senate, which ended at the beginning of 2019, is
34
00:01:54.890 --> 00:01:58.730
the last time we saw, quite frankly, responsible spending. Since then,
35
00:01:59.170 --> 00:02:01.930
the budget back then was about $ 170 billion with a B. Now,
36
00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:10.379
fast forward here, basically... seven budget cycles, and it's $ 277 billion.
37
00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:14.520
So you went from $ 170 to $ 277 billion under one
38
00:02:14.599 --> 00:02:19.319
party Democrat rule. And in that period of time, we've
39
00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:22.750
also had a huge increase in fraud and abuse, particularly
40
00:02:22.770 --> 00:02:26.370
in Medicaid. Medicaid now consumes about half of New York
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State's budget, and there's been no appetite to actually address
42
00:02:29.729 --> 00:02:32.389
the fraud, waste, and abuse. And this is what common
43
00:02:32.409 --> 00:02:35.849
sense folks like Tom DiNapoli, who's a fellow Democrat, has
44
00:02:35.909 --> 00:02:40.469
said about the fraud, waste, and abuse in programs like Medicaid.
45
00:02:40.870 --> 00:02:43.120
So this is not about we don't tax enough and
46
00:02:43.129 --> 00:02:44.780
we have to tax more. This is about New York
47
00:02:44.819 --> 00:02:48.740
State spending too much and not addressing the wastefulness in
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00:02:49.139 --> 00:02:50.620
those programs like Medicaid.
49
00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:56.000
You know, we've talked about Medicaid before. And, you know,
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00:02:56.020 --> 00:02:59.680
we talked about that Florida was like $ 25 billion that
51
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has more people than New York. And how did we
52
00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:03.259
get to $ 125 billion in New York?
53
00:03:06.259 --> 00:03:08.979
Well, again, because we've allowed these programs to grow out
54
00:03:09.020 --> 00:03:13.719
of control. First and foremost, we don't address the fraudulent
55
00:03:13.860 --> 00:03:16.659
part of Medicaid. And I'm not just talking about people
56
00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:18.669
that aren't eligible that are on Medicaid. That's certainly a
57
00:03:18.710 --> 00:03:21.729
big part of it. But I'm talking about the billions
58
00:03:21.770 --> 00:03:26.110
of dollars in fraudulent billing that just isn't real. You
59
00:03:26.129 --> 00:03:29.090
have providers that are billing for services that they're not providing.
60
00:03:29.490 --> 00:03:34.340
We saw recently an exposure of a program in Queens
61
00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:37.939
where a group has billed over $ 200 million for what
62
00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:42.099
was supposed to be senior dayhab programs. That was a
63
00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:47.710
total fraud. There were something like 77... senior day have
64
00:03:47.750 --> 00:03:52.449
programs in like a two-mile radius in Queens, most of
65
00:03:52.490 --> 00:03:55.810
which were fraudulent. And yet we have an attorney general
66
00:03:55.870 --> 00:03:58.770
here in New York State that rates last 50th out
67
00:03:58.810 --> 00:04:04.080
of 50 for convicting people of Medicaid fraud. So it's
68
00:04:04.139 --> 00:04:07.319
a perfect storm of fraud, waste, and abuse that has
69
00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:11.479
resulted in New York State taxing its citizens more than
70
00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:13.889
any other state in the nation. So we have to
71
00:04:14.050 --> 00:04:17.610
draw that line, that common sense line between waste, fraud,
72
00:04:17.629 --> 00:04:19.829
and abuse and the fact that we overtax our citizens,
73
00:04:20.170 --> 00:04:22.750
which is driving businesses and families out of New York
74
00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.139
State at a record pace.
75
00:04:24.839 --> 00:04:30.459
No, it's very, very sad. Is there anybody doing any
76
00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:31.560
checks and balances at all?
77
00:04:33.220 --> 00:04:35.540
Well, look, we try to call this out in the
78
00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:38.100
New York State Senate, in particular in the Republican Conference.
79
00:04:38.779 --> 00:04:41.490
We've called out the fraud, waste, and abuse. Like I said,
80
00:04:41.500 --> 00:04:46.350
we've even had bipartisan support from Tom DiNapoli. And there
81
00:04:46.389 --> 00:04:48.069
are others that have called this out. But you need
82
00:04:48.089 --> 00:04:51.800
to have the political will to not just call it out,
83
00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:54.279
but for people to actually take action. And that's where
84
00:04:54.300 --> 00:04:58.079
we need a change in leadership. particularly at the executive level.
85
00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:01.490
We need a strong executive branch that is willing to
86
00:05:01.550 --> 00:05:03.970
root out the fraud, waste, and abuse. And you have
87
00:05:04.009 --> 00:05:05.910
a federal government right now that's basically saying, we're not
88
00:05:05.930 --> 00:05:08.990
going to fund this anymore. You know, my Democrat colleagues
89
00:05:09.050 --> 00:05:11.829
and Governor Hochul are wringing their hands over federal cuts,
90
00:05:11.930 --> 00:05:14.350
but what the federal government is saying is we're no
91
00:05:14.389 --> 00:05:18.389
longer going to borrow money to fund your fraudulent programs
92
00:05:18.430 --> 00:05:20.670
in New York State. That's coming to an end. So
93
00:05:20.709 --> 00:05:22.439
now it comes down to what are we going to do?
94
00:05:22.939 --> 00:05:25.209
Are we going to root out the fraud, waste, and abuse,
95
00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:28.060
or are you going to cut legitimate claims out? Are
96
00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:30.279
you going to kick people off of programs like Medicaid
97
00:05:30.579 --> 00:05:33.079
that truly deserve it and need it because you're unwilling
98
00:05:33.100 --> 00:05:35.420
to address the fraud in the program? That's where we
99
00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:37.459
are in New York State now, and it's very concerning.
100
00:05:38.459 --> 00:05:41.959
Understood. Anything else you want to tell all New Yorkers
101
00:05:42.019 --> 00:05:43.040
and all American people?
102
00:05:44.220 --> 00:05:46.160
Well, we're getting down to the wire here in this
103
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.720
election cycle, John, and it's time for New Yorkers to
104
00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:52.920
wake up and vote for a change in leadership. Right now,
105
00:05:52.980 --> 00:05:57.060
all I see is people throwing bombs about Trump, but
106
00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:58.839
at the end of the day, your quality of life
107
00:05:58.939 --> 00:06:01.459
every day is really impacted more by what happens in
108
00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:03.860
Albany than Washington, D.C. Vote accordingly.
109
00:06:05.709 --> 00:06:09.839
I agree with you. And Senator George Borrello, let's pray
110
00:06:09.879 --> 00:06:12.149
for common sense to prevail. Amen.
