Gottheimer announces new action to protect New Jersey seniors from cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare

NEW JERSEY — U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced new efforts on Monday to counter the ongoing threat to New Jersey seniors, as far-right lawmakers in Congress and the Trump Administration push forward with significant budget cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare, which could severely impact the state’s elderly population.

Gottheimer is also helping introduce legislation that would stop the Trump Administration from randomly closing Social Security offices around the country, which would cause delays in seniors’ checks and benefits.

Gottheimer also unveiled a new report outlining the devastating damage that cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will have on Jersey seniors and families.

• The Trump Administration has announced plans to cut 7,000 jobs at the Social Security Administration (SSA) and close 47 SSA offices across the country — meaning less access to critical services and more delays.
  • DOGE’s chaotic mismanagement has already caused system-wide outages and disruptions, and will cause delays to seniors’ checks and benefits.
  • The Social Security Administration’s Acting Commissioner said that the DOGE workers who decided to fire 7,000 Social Security employees are not experts and are going to make mistakes.
  • During a White House cabinet meeting, Elon Musk admitted that DOGE will make mistakes as they slash away at critical departments.
• Far-right extremists in Congress have also passed a budget resolution that would cut $880 billion for critical health care programs — including severe cuts to Medicaid and Medicare — programs on which millions of seniors across the country depend.
  • While far-right extremists have promised they will not touch Medicare or Medicaid, the Congressional Budget Office reported to Congress last week that they cannot reach their goal without cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and ripping health care away from millions of Americans.

Impact of Cuts on New Jersey:

• More than 20% of Bergen County are seniors — the largest population of those 60 years of age and over in the entire state.
• Across New Jersey, an estimated 1.7 million people depend on Medicaid. Seniors across New Jersey rely on Medicaid for dental and hospice services, while many more, including those with disabilities, rely on this assistance to get by each day.
  • Across New Jersey, more than a third of all children, nearly 40% of adults with disabilities, and an estimated 60% of people living in nursing homes on Medicaid will see this vital support snatched away from them.
  • In the Fifth District alone, nearly 90,000 people rely on Medicaid through programs like NJ Family Care for affordable, quality health care, nursing homes, and senior care.
    • This includes nearly 30,000 children and 13,000 seniors just in Northern New Jersey.

• As of 2022, 1.7 million across the state also rely on Medicare to receive critical health care — that’s nearly 20% of all Jersey families. More than 147,000 people in the Fifth District were eligible for Medicare.
• Nearly a third of all seniors in Jersey rely on Social Security to get by each month.

Gottheimer’s New Senior Security Strategy Steps:

• First, Gottheimer is helping introduce new legislation, the Keeping Our Field Offices Open Act, to suspend the closure of all Social Security offices.
  • The legislation requires a detailed report to Congress before the Administration can shut down these critical facilities.
  • Gottheimer also helped send a letter to the Trump Administration demanding they immediately halt plans for any further office closures or staffing reductions.
• Second, Gottheimer is sending a letter and report to House Speaker Mike Johnson outlining the devastating damage cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will have on Jersey seniors and families, while urging him to protect these critical programs.
  • Gottheimer also sent a letter with 46 of his colleagues calling on the Speaker to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid on behalf of the millions of seniors who depend on these programs nationwide.
• Third, Gottheimer is helping to introduce the Protecting Americans’ Social Security Data Act to stop Elon Musk and his DOGE cronies from accessing sensitive data systems at the Social Security Administration.
• These actions build on Gottheimer’s long record of fighting for Jersey seniors:
  • Gottheimer introduced and passed overwhelmingly out of the House the bipartisan Senior Security Act, which would create a task force to protect and educate seniors on financial fraud.
  • Gottheimer introduced the bipartisan Empowering States to Protect Seniors from Bad Actors Act, which would create a new Senior Investor Protection Grant Program to support state enforcement agencies.
  • Gottheimer helped introduce the Connecting Caregivers to Medicare Act to require the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to expand access to Medicare for family caregivers.
  • Gottheimer helped introduce the Linking Seniors to Needed Legal Services Act, which invests in improving efficiencies at the Social Security Administration and expanding support for our vulnerable seniors.
  • Gottheimer’s office has helped more than 1,290 Fifth District seniors access their earned Social Security checks in the last two years and clawed back more than $1.5 million in Social Security benefits to the Fifth District overall.

“I’m all for making government more efficient, but not haphazardly hacking away at our most essential benefits that so many seniors desperately rely on. Making things worse — the Administration knows they are screwing over our seniors and families with all of this chaos. Rather than cutting red tape, the President is cutting critical lifelines that Jersey seniors rely on. This is an assault on our seniors,” said Gottheimer. “President Trump promised to bring down costs but has not announced a single concrete plan to help struggling families. Instead, he is threatening critical support for our seniors and proposing tariffs that will drive prices higher. We need to defend our Jersey Values and lower costs and taxes, not create chaos and abandon our seniors.”