POLITICAL ARENA

With Congress battling over how to hack away at the deficit, Medicare funding is on the chopping block. Teaching hospitals across the country could see a reduction in $5.8 billion annually in Medicare funding. According to the letter, this total cut disproportionately affects New York City. A worst-case scenario cut would result in $1.25 billion of the $5.8 billion being slashed from three area teaching hospitals: Montefiore Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital and Mount Sinai Medical Center.

State Sens. Gustavo Rivera, Jeff Klein, Bill Perkins, Thomas Duane, Jose Serrano, Ruben Diaz and Ruth Hassell-Thompson signed the letter.

In it, Mr. Espaillat writes that the cuts would devastate the local economy because the affected hospitals are major employers. 

“While no one is arguing against bringing our nation’s fiscal house in order, we cannot do so while damaging the most important medical centers in America,” reads the letter.

Mr. Espaillat’s spokesperson, Ibrahim Khan, said the cuts were “akin to shooting yourself in the foot” because not only are the hospitals major employers in the area, the city produces upwards of 16,000 doctors every year through these facilities.

BP calls feds on mayor

The debate over what to do with the Muller Army Reserve Center in Wakefield went federal last week, adding another interesting chapter to the Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. versus Mayor Michael Bloomberg chronicles.

Mr. Diaz sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of Economic Adjustment of the U.S. Navy asking it to reject Mr. Bloomberg’s plan to build a homeless shelter at the vacant Wakefield space. Mr. Diaz believes the Bloomberg administration has subverted the process for deciding what to do with the vacant military facility.