Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) speak to reporters before a town hall in Tucson, Arizona.
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00:00Hey, how's it going? Good.
00:02How's everyone?
00:04A little closer.
00:06Good light.
00:08Great.
00:10How's it going?
00:12How are you guys?
00:14Thank you for coming.
00:16Who's the CNN guy?
00:18Who's CNN?
00:20Kagon.
00:22Laura, I'm so sorry.
00:24I am.
00:26It's good to see you guys.
00:28Good to see all of you.
00:30This is Tucson local, sir.
00:32Okay.
00:34Would someone just like to start with remarks at all?
00:36Yeah, I mean, so
00:38it's great to have
00:40Senator Booker here and the mayor
00:42and Congressman Stanton
00:44and Laura Conover and the new head of our
00:46party, Robert Branscombe,
00:48to meet with folks
00:50in Tucson and talk to them about
00:52the issues that they're thinking about.
00:54Things that are affecting them every single day.
00:56I recently did a couple town halls on Medicaid.
01:00And people are really freaked out, as you might expect,
01:02that they could lose their health care.
01:04Which here in Arizona is called Access.
01:06But this is going on across the country.
01:08And we need to hear from folks directly
01:10about what issues that they're thinking about.
01:12And that's why we're doing this tonight.
01:14Senator?
01:16Anybody else?
01:18It's a privilege for me to serve in Congress
01:20with these two incredible congressmen
01:22and the senator.
01:24It's great to be here in the mayor's city,
01:26which I have to tell you, being mayor
01:28is the hardest job in all of politics.
01:30But I think Senator Kelly pointed right.
01:32It's really focusing on people and focusing on their concerns
01:34and the extraordinary challenges
01:36we're seeing as a result of the decisions
01:38that this president is making.
01:40And the lack of action, unfortunately,
01:42there are a lot of Republicans in Congress
01:44who we know agree with us on so many of these issues.
01:46Unfortunately, right now,
01:48they're not stepping up to defend Medicaid,
01:50to defend food stamps and other critical services
01:52that they seem to be cutting
01:54in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest amongst us
01:56who really don't need our help.
01:58They're doing just fine.
02:00What we really need to do is defend the programs
02:02that folks are relying on for their economic security
02:04and well-being.
02:06And by the way, we're in one of those districts
02:08right here, Juan Siskamati,
02:10who I believe voted for the budget resolution
02:13where this budget is going to take money
02:16potentially away from Medicaid.
02:18And Elon Musk is now talking about social security
02:21as a Ponzi scheme.
02:22And this is all to fund a big, giant tax cut.
02:25So think of it this way.
02:26They're going to take money out of the pockets
02:28of people that don't have a lot of money,
02:30take away their health care,
02:31to give it to the wealthiest Americans.
02:33The thing I would add is that so many of my colleagues
02:35in the House, the Republican colleagues,
02:37it seems like their number one motivating factor
02:39right now and how they make decisions
02:41is fear of Donald Trump.
02:42If they don't do what Donald Trump wants,
02:44they're going to be primary.
02:46And I think you're going to hear a lot of people
02:47in this audience, Democrats, many of them,
02:50but also Republicans and independents
02:52who are really angry about what they see going on
02:55in Washington, D.C., including the loss of Medicaid.
02:58Over 100,000 residents right here in AZ-06
03:02would lose Medicaid coverage if the resolution
03:05as voted on by Congressman Siskimani does pass.
03:09They're going to see a change of political calculus.
03:11They better not be afraid of Donald Trump.
03:13They better be afraid of the reaction of the regular people
03:15in AZ-06 and other districts like it around the country
03:18if they don't start standing up to Donald Trump
03:21and fighting for health care and social security
03:25and restoring the Department of Education
03:28and these radical things that the president is doing.
03:31They better start standing up and having their voices heard.
03:33Otherwise, they're going to have a very rough election next year.
03:36And I'd like to welcome Senator Booker
03:39and, of course, our very own Tucson resident, Mark Kelly,
03:44and, of course, our Congressman Laura is here all the time with us
03:49and our new chair of the Arizona Democratic Party
03:51for having this town hall here in Tucson.
03:56There's a big portion of Tucsonans that are not being heard
04:01or represented by Congressman Siskimani.
04:05And they're here to answer questions, to listen to our constituents,
04:11and make sure that they take all of the concerns with them to Congress
04:17so that they can continue fighting.
04:19And for me, as the mayor of Tucson, we have seen the effects of what Donald Trump is doing to our VA,
04:28to our public education department.
04:32We can see tangibly already the cuts that are happening, and just like the senator said,
04:41taking from the most vulnerable and the poorest of our country and working families to give to billionaires.
04:51It is unacceptable, and I'm grateful that this delegation is here to listen to the concerns that Tucson has had.
05:06It is a terrific time on Sunday night because Senator Booker's words about this being a moral moment resonates so deeply with Tucson, right?
05:15I mean, this is the place where we go back to the 70s and 80s to the heart of the sanctuary movement.
05:20This is a place more recently where during the heart of COVID, we sacrificed deeply to make sure we were saving lives.
05:27We take care of our own here in Tucson.
05:29And so the moral moment, that's a phrase that is deep in our hearts.
05:35But I'd like to thank the senators, congressmen, the mayor, and the district prosecutor here.
05:41Even though I'm the state party chair, this is a nonpartisan issue.
05:46This affects not only everyone in Arizona, it affects everyone across the United States.
05:51And we're here to tell them that we see you, we hear you, and we're fighting for you every day.
05:56Congressman Siskamadi says these are outrageous lies that the Republicans are moving forward with cuts to Medicaid.
06:04Do you guys want to respond to this?
06:06Yeah, so what they're trying to do is take this thing that's going to cost $6 trillion, this big tax cut, for the wealthiest Americans.
06:13They're going to try to get it down to $4 trillion.
06:16So they were instructed to take money out of the Energy and Commerce Committee, upwards of possibly $1 trillion.
06:23The only cuts you could make there, which are going to have any effect, anything close to that, is from Medicaid or Medicare.
06:31And that could add up to potentially $880 billion.
06:35If they take the federal match on Medicaid, here in the state of Arizona from, what, 90% to 80%, it's going to kick off the entire expansion population.
06:46This district we are in right now was Gabby Gifford's district.
06:50When my wife Gabby voted for the Affordable Care Act, she was voting to expand health care.
06:55And the effect that that had in the state of Arizona has been nothing but positive.
07:00Getting people out of the emergency room, getting them primary care before they get really sick.
07:05If we see these cuts, and this is what people don't understand, it's not like just, there's not a separate health care system for Medicaid.
07:12One for Medicare and one for private payer and private insurance.
07:16It's all the same health care system.
07:18And the foundation of the system here in the state of Arizona is Medicaid.
07:22If that gets cut significantly, it's going to affect everybody.
07:26I'll just add on that real quick.
07:28Look, the math simply doesn't work without making these massive Medicaid cuts.
07:33Congress and Siskimani knows that that is true.
07:38But if that's not enough, what happened on the House floor this week in order to get the Freedom Caucus to vote for this budget resolution was a specific memorandum from the White House requiring that the cuts come from Medicaid.
07:54And so that was a deal point in order to get the recalcitrant members who were thinking about voting no to vote yes.
08:01And if Congressman Siskimani and others who have made Medicaid a deal point for them, if they're serious about it, they should have voted no because of that.
08:10Yeah, they're just trying to kick the can down the road to say this isn't going to happen until the second it does happen.
08:15We're trying to get in front of it, make sure the American people know what they're actually about to do, and possibly we could get them to stop it.
08:22If somebody like Juan Siskimani stands up and says enough, I'm not going to do this, maybe it won't pass.
08:29We've got four more minutes, folks.
08:30So President Donald Trump has insisted that he will not be making any financial cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
08:37There's also been HCR 14, which states that and it even states as the president wishes.
08:42What are your thoughts on that?
08:43Do you believe him?
08:45He had a high tariffs and he changed them and he changed them and he changed them.
08:50We know that he's lost credibility not only on tariff policy, but he has no credibility when he makes that statement.
08:55He needs to read the budget resolution that his team is trying to jam through the United States Congress, which requires massive Medicaid cuts.
09:03It would take over 500,000 of our fellow Arizonans off of Medicaid, meaning they can't see their primary care physician.
09:11The cost would go up because most of them would seek care in emergency care setting and rural hospitals, rural hospitals would close under this plan.
09:19And that affects not just Medicaid patients.
09:21It affects all people who utilize those hospitals.
09:24He needs to read his own plan instead of just speaking out of hand just to say whatever is convenient in the moment.
09:31The president contradicts himself multiple times every single week.
09:35He often can't remember what he said the day before and will go 180 degrees on multiple issues.
09:41So I wouldn't like like the congressman says here.
09:44I wouldn't trust him on this.
09:45Senator Booker, can we get a response to that?
09:47A response to what specifically?
09:49So President Donald Trump has said that he will not be making financial cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
09:55What are your thoughts on that?
09:56Again, this is not an issue right now of what Donald Trump says is what he's doing.
10:02The bill that has moved through Congress clearly takes direct aim at Medicaid and other vital programs.
10:09You don't have to even wait for that bill.
10:11He's already undermined Social Security in the United States of America and you see that by them undermining services and shaking what his bedrock promise to people.
10:20He's attacked public education.
10:22He has attacked retirement security.
10:23He's attacked our veterans.
10:25These are all things and folks that he said he would not do anything but the facts are the facts.
10:29So here we have what I think is probably one of the greatest threats to Americans' well-being because as Senator Kelly said very plainly, we have a complicated medical system in the United States of America.
10:40To attack Medicaid would not only hurt the direct recipients who rely on Medicaid but it would hurt our entire medical system because so many of our hospitals, so many of our doctors and so many of our other medical professionals really rely on that program to make everything work.
10:56This is a threat to us and it's not kind of wait and see.
11:00We'll try to trust you, Donald Trump.
11:02It's time to stand up right now and not focus on Donald Trump only.
11:05Really focus on those Republican Congress people who have the power to stop him.
11:10It only takes three people and I believe one of them is right here in Arizona to say I'm not going to vote for any bill that in any way cuts or diminishes Medicaid or hurts the great folks of Arizona who rely on programs for their health care,
11:25for their retirement security, for their veteran benefits and more.
11:28I got time for one last one.
11:29I just wanted to answer that question.
11:31Yep.
11:32Donald Trump also said he would bring the prices of eggs down on day one and that our economy would be the greatest ever seen in this country.
11:40And it's important, as the senator says, it's important to see what he is doing, not what he is saying, because we cannot trust and we cannot believe the lies that Donald Trump tells the American people.
11:58And unfortunately, Representative Siskomani is moving along the same lines, right, saying lies every time they open their mouth.
12:07We need good representation in Congress that will represent Tucsonans, especially working folks, especially the most vulnerable seniors and their Medicare.
12:17We cannot afford to sit idly by and let these leaders destroy our public education, our Department of Education, our Medicare, our Social Security, our VA.
12:35We cannot let that happen.
12:37And so that's what we want to do today.
12:40We want to take the questions from Tucsonans, those that lack representation or cannot get a hold of their representative and be able to take that information to Congress so that they can help with policy and they can help take a stand, a fierce stand against what Donald Trump and Republicans are in Congress.
13:04are not willing to do.
13:05They're not willing to stand up to Donald Trump.
13:10They're willing to throw their constituents under the bus and because they're afraid of primaries, because they're afraid to stand up to the bully.
13:20Thank you so much, folks.
13:21We've got to move on.
13:23Thank you so much.
13:24Thank you so much.