Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, warned Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City, that city health officials are risking their federal funding by engaging in antisemitic behavior.
“Recent public reporting about activities within the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, combined with statements from the city’s new health commissioner, Dr. Alister Martin, raise serious questions about the department’s activities and whether they are consistent with the requirements attached to the significant federal funding the agency receives each year,” Cassidy wrote on Monday.
The senator wrote that, according to public reports, department staff “recently organized and supported a ‘global oppression and public health working group,’” which was “developed ‘in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine.’”
During a meeting that ran more than an hour, “there was reportedly no mention of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks,” Cassidy wrote. “Instead, discussion focused on the treatment of Palestinians as ‘second-class citizens’ and the department’s goal of ‘better understand[ing] the impact of global oppression’ and ‘supporting colleagues negatively impacted by global oppression.’”
The city health commissioner said in a recent interview that there is “pretty specific evidence that the federal government is not a fan of the work that we’re doing on equity,” but said the department was “not gonna stop doing that work on equity” even if the federal government “comes and messes with our money,” Cassidy wrote.
The senator noted that about 20% of the city’s health department annual budget—$600 million out of about $2 billion—comes from federal funds.
“Prioritizing a political agenda over compliance with these requirements risks both federal funding and the public health of New York City residents,” he said. “Federal taxpayers should have confidence that funds intended to support public health services are administered in compliance with those obligations.”
“The department’s focus on the Israeli Palestinian conflict and the creation of an internal ‘working group’ organized around a particular ethnic or national group underscores the need to ensure that workplace initiatives are administered in a manner that does not leave other employees—in this case, Jewish employees—feeling excluded or marginalized,” he added.
He asked the city to respond to 13 questions, including “what steps, if any, is your administration taking to reassure New Yorkers that taxpayer dollars remain focused on promoting public health and are not being diverted to push a political agenda that singles out the State of Israel,” by April 6.
