Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand accuses Trump of putting 'billionaires and fraudsters' ahead of seniors

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has released a scathing report alleging that President Donald Trump's administration has put "billionaires and fraudsters" ahead of the senior citizens of the country. On Sunday, the Democratic lawmaker from New York outlined how the current administration has undermined programs, including Medicaid and the Older Americans Act, that support aging adults. Gillibrand urged Americans to "put an end" to the chaos caused by the policies in the upcoming midterm elections in November. 

The ranking minority member of the US Senate Special Committee on Aging, Gillibrand, released the report titled 'Confusion & Chaos: 2025 & President Trump's Betrayal of Seniors', detailing how the President has deviated from his campaign promises. The report criticizes the administration's signature One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), alleging it hurt Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the Older Americans Act (OAA) programs. Talking to X, she accused President Trump of driving up costs and undermining Social Security as well, while trying to dismantle the agency that protects seniors against scams. "He's putting billionaires and fraudsters over our seniors every chance he gets," she wrote.  

On the release of her report, she told 7News WWNYTV that the president has broken all of his promises, and the report shows how he has attacked every program that helps them "stay afloat" instead of protecting them. "As a result, American seniors are sicker, poorer, and more vulnerable today than they were just a year ago," she said. One of the report's biggest criticisms is the OBBBA that introduced cuts to Medicaid and limited access to home-and community-based services (HCBS) for 8 million seniors. The report further argues that by changing how states use Medicaid, Trump's policies have put 2.4 million people at risk of losing coverage and forced hospitals to shut down. 

The second area of concern the report highlights is the cuts made to the SNAP program that helps over 11 million older adults across the country. In the report, Gillibrand's team alleges that due to the changes made to the program, roughly 800,000 older adults without dependent children will "go hungry," and additionally, about 300,000 caregivers, including grandparents of children aged 14 or over, will lose access to the program.

Lastly, the report highlights the impact of Trump's policies on the Older Americans Act programs that provide nonmedical services to seniors, including Meals on Wheels. The report mentions that the administration last year closed the federal government's Administration for Community Living (ACL) that administers OAA programs, without the approval from Congress. "President Trump's plan to eliminate ACL will remove advocates for seniors and people with disabilities from the federal government, raising the risk that programs for those populations will not be prioritized," the report said. In response to the move, 50 organizations, including USAging, Addus HomeCare, the Caregiver Action Network, and Meals on Wheels America, wrote a letter to Congress, urging them to intervene and keep the OAA programs. In the report, Gillibrand further supported several senior-friendly measures, including the Senior Hunger Prevention Act (S 1036), which was reintroduced by the senator to enhance food assistance for older adults through SNAP.