Listen: NYC’s EMS Crisis Deepens; Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Death Bill’
Coffins left in the street represent the deaths that opponents insist will result from the Trump administration’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”
By Bob Hennelly
On the latest episode of "What’s Going On?” Vinnie Variale, president of DC 37 Local 3621—the FDNY EMS officers union—talks about Mayor Adams’ handling of NYC’s deepening EMS crisis where response times have risen in excess of ten minutes for the most serious life threatening situations as calls volumes continue to surge.
According to FDNY EMS Local 2507, which represents EMTs, paramedics and fire inspectors, last week’s heat wave and the medical emergencies it produced saw calls spike as much as 27.3 percent mid-week.
In 2024, the city had 1.63 million medical emergencies calls. During the last heat wave some calls took three hours to respond to with 300 calls being put on hold due to a lack of available units.
The Rev. Dr. William Barber (r) leads a prayer service challenging the Trump administration’s “Murder policy.”
“The FDNY EMS has been systematically and continually starved of resources by City Hall under this Administration. We lack proper staffing levels, crews and ambulances on the street,” said Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507.
EMS got $388.7 million, or 14 percent of the FDNY budget, for Fiscal Year 2025—that’s down from 16.2 percent in FY 2024.
We also get a preview from Dr. Alvin O. Jackson about the Moral Monday actions planned for our nation's Capital as a diverse coalition of clergy led by Bishop Dr. William Barber present a prayerful protest against Donald Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful" budget bill. That legislation spends a record-setting trillion dollars on the military and provides obscene tax cuts for the wealthy— all the while cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from food stamps and Medicaid, and stripping healthcare insurance from well over ten million Americans. If the cuts go through, 51,000 people could die annually.
Even before Covid struck, poverty was the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. ahead of homicides, contributing to 800 premature deaths a day.
Listen to the entire show below: