During a town hall event on Tuesday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) called for constituents to urge state lawmakers to protect Medicaid.
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00:00So what can you do?
00:01Before we go into this, I think it's really important to know that, you know,
00:07many of my colleagues, Republican, even Democrats,
00:10it's very hard sometimes for them to be fully frank with everyone about the fact that,
00:16again, you're talking about health care, you're talking about Department of Education,
00:19you're talking about today I just was at Earth Day with EPA workers and everyone.
00:24Sometimes you're going to see folks say, oh, they're not cutting that,
00:26but they're cutting the federal workforce that runs the program.
00:30So pay attention to that.
00:32They may not, oh, we're not touching Social Security,
00:34but then they're cutting 50% of the Social Security Administration staff.
00:38So when you call, it's delayed.
00:40For instance, VA, I have the John Dingell VA, where there's a lot of John Dingell VA hospitals,
00:45and many of my folks go to that hospital specifically.
00:48And I can tell you, I have a gentleman, a veteran, outpatient surgery, outpatient care.
00:54They called him because they got rid of all the surgical tech folks.
00:58He's waiting another three months before he can come.
01:01It's not like people can stop being sick.
01:03It's not like people can stop, again, whatever the issues and challenges they have.
01:07And, again, these are promises we made to our constituents that we would have their back.
01:11And this is our money.
01:13Like, I hate that we don't see it that way, but it is ours.
01:16If there's anything that I think the American people want us to support,
01:20it's making sure, again, nobody plans to get sick.
01:22Nobody plans to have a disability.
01:25Nobody plans to come from serving our country with, you know, exposure to toxins.
01:30Nobody plans any of that.
01:33But they come back and we make a promise that we take care of each other.
01:38And, again, this is, again, them breaking that promise.
01:40What can you do?
01:41There's a lot you can do.
01:42One, you showed up.
01:43Thank you for that.
01:45You know, this is overwhelming because it's hard to believe it's only been, what, 12, 13 weeks at this?
01:55I know.
01:56I know.
01:57It's so hard to believe, but this is a lot in 13 weeks.
02:00But one thing we know is we need three to four Republicans.
02:05What can we do?
02:06We can organize our backyard.
02:08That's why I'm here.
02:08I said, if there's one thing Michigan can do is get one of the Republicans to create that wall that is needed.
02:15The hope that I have is in the Senate, when that budget proposal passed out of the House and it went to the Senate,
02:21again, one of the Missouri senators who I don't even, like, you know, I was, like, surprised he was doing it.
02:27He's from Missouri.
02:28And he introduced an amendment.
02:31I know, Jeff.
02:32I'm trying not to put their name out there.
02:34So, you know, because he did fix me something else.
02:37So, one of the things to know is, like, even when he offered that, I was, like, this is great.
02:41We're going to be able to take this in the Senate.
02:45And they almost got there.
02:47I think it only got a lot.
02:48We lost that amendment, and it was like a hands-off Medicaid.
02:51Don't touch Medicaid.
02:52It was a beautiful amendment, y'all.
02:54And in there, again, it was to protect Medicaid, and we did almost get there.
03:00I think Susan Collins and some other folks supported it.
03:03And, unfortunately, I think we were one or two votes different, too.
03:07A way from making that happen.
03:09So, then it comes back to the House.
03:11I was there.
03:12We were supposed to vote on and on a Wednesday or Thursday.
03:14I can't remember if it was a Wednesday.
03:16We waited for two and a half hours on the floor.
03:19And I said, wow, they must not have the vote.
03:21This is great.
03:21I know.
03:22I'm excited.
03:23And then I was like, oh, they don't have the vote.
03:25They don't have the vote.
03:26I don't know what happened overnight.
03:29You know, you've probably seen on the news.
03:30I'm sure people got called into the principal's office, the fascist's office.
03:35And I can tell you what happened, I think, is people change their, you know, change their
03:40move, change their mind.
03:41Because I'll tell you, people were getting quoted publicly.
03:43I didn't vote for that.
03:44No way.
03:45Heck no.
03:47And then all of a sudden, they pulled it up that following Thursday.
03:50And I was like, Thursday, Thursday.
03:51But it only got passed from 214 to 216, two vote difference.
03:59We're almost there, y'all.
04:00We're almost there.
04:01And if we can, again, this is a person, your member of Congress wants to run for governor.
04:11Oh, no.
04:13This is Medicaid, again, is impacting Michigan's folks from all over.
04:20And so I reiterate to you all, there's something we can do, we have control over, is to organize
04:27in the McComb County, all of you in the sub-congressional district can deliver one Republican.
04:31You are getting closer and saving our country.