Hundreds of people packed into the Harrietstown Town Hall on Friday afternoon. Governor Kathy Hochul was in Saranac Lake to highlight the potential impacts of President Donald Trump’s budget cuts. His so-called Big Beautiful Bill would slash funding for Medicaid, food assistance, and other programs that many in the North Country rely on.
Hochul stood at the podium inbetween two large poster boards. One highlighted the impacts of Canadian tariffs on the region while the other listed potential the impacts of Trump’s proposed budget cuts.
The North Country voted heavily in favor of Trump, but Saranac Lake leans to the left. Among a more sympathetic crowd on Friday, the Democratic governor struck a serious tone.
“Right now, because of decisions being made in Washington as we speak, this area is under siege,” said Hochul.
Just minutes before Friday’s event in Saranac Lake, news broke that Trump had suspended all trade talks with Canada after Canada introduced a retaliatory tax on US tech companies. The trade war began this spring after Trump imposed steep tariffs on Canadian goods this spring and suggested the country become the 51st state.
The president’s policies and rhetoric have already had a ripple effect throughout the North Country. Border crossings from Canada are down by about 20-30%. Hochul said businesses are feeling the pain.
“The Malone Golf Club said they’ve lost $400,000 in Canadian tourism dollars that they used to count on. I don’t know how you pay the bills, how you pay your staff, how you keep your lights on,” said Hochul.
Another focus of Friday’s event was Trump’s immigration policies, as the President pushes ICE agents to arrest 3,000 people per day. Some of those arrests are happening here on North Country farms.
Michael Murphy, manager of Childstock Farms in Franklin County and a member of the New York Farm Bureau State Board of Director, spoke at Friday’s event about the impact of Trump’s immigration tactics.
“One day, mass deportations are promised, the next day, there’s talk of exemption for farm workers. Then it’s back to raids and removals. This uncertainty creates fear and instability in the workforce we all depend on. Immigrant workers are the backbone of New York’s agricultural economy,” said Murphy.
The North Country’s healthcare sector is also facing fear and uncertainty. Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill would cut Medicaid by nearly $800 million. About 30% of people in the North Country are enrolled in the health care program.
Dr. Bill Borgos is a family physician and Chief Medical Officer of Hudson Headwaters Health Network, which serves lower-income areas in the North Country.
“Medicaid cuts as currently proposed will impact us directly, very much in the negative, on the order of millions of dollars,” said Borgos. “By our estimates, we anticipate losing $2.3 million as an organization with those cuts alone.”
Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who represents this area, said she was proud to vote for the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. She said changes to Medicaid would “strengthen and secure” the program.
Trump’s budget would also cut funding for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Nicole Laurin is the CEO of the Joint Council for Economic Opportunity, a food pantry that serves Franklin and Clinton Counties. Laurin told the crowd on Friday that the number of people JCEO helps has tripled in the last three years.
“If funding for these critical programs is reduced, people in our community— so these could be your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, even your family- will face dire consequences,” said Laurin.
After a handful of speakers highlighted the impacts of possible funding cuts, Gov. Hochul returned to the front of the room. She called on the crowd to push back on the President’s proposed budget cuts and urged them to reach out to Stefanik.
“You have an influential member of Congress who can do the right thing tomorrow. Listen, I’m going to give everyone… I have hope,” said Hochul.
The Senate is currently debating provisions of the bill and could then send those changes back to the House of Representatives for another vote.
Friday’s event came the same day that The Hill, a national news outlet, cited two sources who said Stefanik is preparing to officially announce her run for governor. Hochul addressed the news while talking to reporters after Friday’s event.
“Any Republican who runs, and we don’t know who that’s going to be, will have to do a lot of explaining on why they were the enablers to Donald Trump’s policies when they had the power to stop it,” said Hochul.
Trump made real gains in New York in last year’s election, earning 44% of the vote compared to 36% in his first election. It was a far closer race for Hochul, who beat her Republican challenger, Lee Zeldin, by 6% in 2024.
The latest polling shows that Stefanik or another Republican could close that gap even more.