Mass. Gov. Healey interview on federal funding cuts

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey got choked up during a visit this week to Boston Children's Hospital this week to highlight the hundreds of millions of dollars it receives in federal funding, which could be cut off by the Trump Administration.

In an interview with NBC10 Boston, she shared what about cutting health care funding makes her feel both sad and mad.

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"This isn't politics. It's not a game. These are people's lives," Healey said.

Healey highlights NIH funding cuts' impact on Boston Children's Hospital

Gov. Maura Healey and hospital leaders are calling on the Trump administration to change course on cuts to the National Institutes of Health.

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Healey also discussed President Donald Trump's continued attention to Boston and immigration enforcement, proposed cuts at the U.S. Department of Education and her increasing national profile. Read an edited transcript of the interview for air below:

MATT PRICHARD: Governor, thanks so much for the time. We really appreciate it. Let's talk a little bit about some news that we just learned about. President Trump has sent out a press release about Mayor Michelle Wu's speech last night, her state of the city. What do you make of his just sort of incessant attention when it comes to Massachusetts?

GOVERNOR HEALEY: You know, Boston is the safest major city in the country. Massachusetts is one of the safest states in the country. Also, we're not a sanctuary state. And I can tell you, because I was attorney general, I'm the one who established the New England strike force on fentanyl. I actually worked on investigating, prosecuting, those who are engaged in drug trafficking, fentanyl trafficking. You know, we cooperated with, we continue to cooperate with state police, local police, federal law enforcement, when it comes to getting bad guys off the street. So I just don't understand some of this rhetoric. And what's really concerning is that, there have been reports of people being picked up, who actually have work authorizations, who've been living here for years, who have been working here for years, and are doing what they need to do in terms of getting through the immigration process. So, you know, that's incredibly disruptive. As governor, I'm committed to making sure Massachusetts law enforcement cooperate and work with federal authorities, as we always have when it comes to crime, right? But the rhetoric and now what we're seeing in terms of actions are something different. And I don't think that that's what most people voted for.

MATT PRICHARD: You talked about disruptions there. Another area where we plan to see disruptions is at the Department of Education, executive order soon to be signed on that. What's the impact here in Massachusetts to our students in your mind?

GOVERNOR HEALEY: Potentially really devastating. You know, Department of Education, what I want people to understand, if you have a young person at home, a student who is a student with a disability, a student on an IEP, here's what's gonna happen. The funding for special ed goes away. If you have an aide in a classroom who helps your kid with reading or other learning issues, that goes away. After school programs for all kids, so much of that is funded through the Department of Ed. That goes away. You're on a Pell Grant, right? Going to one of our schools. That potentially goes away. I think it's a dumb idea. It seems to me we should be doing everything we can to make America more competitive, continue to invest in education. And I can tell you as governor, I'm gonna continue to support and invest in education in our state. But boy, you know, we really can't afford to lose a federal partner.

MATT PRICHARD: Let me ask you about NIH funding, because we were both at Boston Children's earlier this week as you toured that facility. And I remember during the press conference afterwards, you seemed to get a little choked up when you were talking about the kids upstairs.

GOVERNOR HEALEY: You know, seeing these little kids and you know, wanna take that away. Wanna take that hope away from any family. You know, we're better than that.

MATT PRICHARD: I cover you pretty often. I don't see that from you very often. Do you feel like right now this moment is going beyond political frustration for you?

GOVERNOR HEALEY: Yeah, on a number of fronts. You know, it's, I did, I started to cry because, and I'll probably get emotional now. You know, this isn't politics. It's not a game. These are people's lives. When you fire everybody from the VA, those veterans aren't gonna get services, including ones who got PTSD and are struggling with mental health, right? When you cut NIH funding, that means you got a loved one right now who's in a clinical trial for cancer or ALS or something else. Those clinical trials shut down here in Massachusetts and around the country. So when I'm at Children's and I'm looking at families and infants in a NICU, you know, who have, are kept alive and their families are given hope because of medical research and the idea that the president and Elon Musk aren't gonna take that away, it's just so wrong. It's just so wrong. And it makes me so sad. It also makes me really mad and it doesn't make sense because the other thing that's happening, as Donald Trump is cutting NIH funding, we have representatives from China, the Middle East and European countries, governments on our campuses right now recruiting postdocs saying, if your funding is gonna go away, come over to China. We'll give you a lab, we'll give you staff. That's not America first, right? I want America to be the place and I want Massachusetts to be the place where innovations and discoveries are made and you know, why Donald Trump wants to give that away to China, it doesn't make any sense to me.

MATT PRICHARD: Let me finish with just one brief question about sort of your national spotlight that seems to be broadening for you. We've seen you on The New York Times, we've seen you on The Late Show with Seth Meyers as well. Do you feel that you're sort of broadening outside of Massachusetts that your national star is rising at this moment?

GOVERNOR HEALEY: No, absolutely not. I mean, I take advantage of opportunities to go on various media outlets to talk about what's happening in my state and to advocate and you know, I've taken to some of that to talk about things like the harm of NIH cuts and the harm to what's happened with the VA and what's happened with federal employees getting fired and you know, what happens when Medicaid funding goes away or is reduced and so it's important. It's important that as governor, I'm out there talking about these things because as governor, I understand the real world implications on the people of my state and so I think it's important to be out there.

MATT PRICHARD: Governor Healy, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

GOVERNOR HEALEY: Good to be with you.