By Paul Levikow

September 2, 2025 (East County) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta and health care activists from the nonprofit Protect Our Care California held a virtual news conference Tuesday regarding the “ongoing Trump-GOP health care emergency,'' which they say puts 28 hospitals and 15 nursing homes at risk of closure statewide. 

Pioneers Memorial Hospital in Brawley in Imperial County is the closest facility to East County that was identified by Protect Our Care California as at risk of closing due to healthcare funding cuts in Trump's "Big Beautiful" budget bill, according to Bonta.

“Since Jan. 20, Trump has flooded the zone with a deluge of unlawful, unconscionable and un-American acts. He’s broken the law, he has violated the constitution, he’s reached far beyond the bounds of the presidency,” Bonta said. “Sadly, Republicans in Congress have been all too willing to stand by and let him. Republicans in Congress are sitting cozy in Trump’s back pocket and together they’re demolishing so much of what makes our country great, including the hard-fought progress we’ve made to provide affordable, accessible healthcare for all.”