TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — About 800 people packed Catalina High School’s auditorium on Sunday to see Democrats like New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Arizona District 4 Representative Greg Staton, and Mark Kelly. Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover, and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero were also in attendance.
“We need to ask the question who do we stand for?” Booker said to the audience.
The Democratic lawmakers called out what they said are Republican efforts to make cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
“They’re going to take money out of the pockets of people that don’t have a lot of money, take away their healthcare, to give it to the wealthiest of Americans,” Senator Mark Kelly said to the press before the event.
In order to extend tax cuts, Republicans are proposing to cut a few trillion dollars to Medicaid, but there are not any concrete plans yet.
“You’re going to hear a lot of people in this audience, Democrats, many of them, but also Republicans and independents who are really angry about what they see,” Representative Greg Staton said.
However, the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson have said they are not going to make cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security.
“We’re going to protect the benefits that everyone is legally entitled to,” Johnson previously said.
Elon Musk, who is in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency, said the only thing that is going to be cut is waste and fraud in mandatory spending that is dictated by laws. He said that is up to $700 billion a year.
“The beneficiaries who have a legal right to that, it will be preserved. Those are essential safety net programs that Republicans support,” Johnson said.
The Democrats at Sunday’s town hall called out Republicans like Congressman Juan Ciscomani.
“If that gets cut significantly, it’s going to affect everybody,” Kelly said.
The Democrats in attendance on Sunday all agreed and said that if Republicans vote to cut money from Medicaid, it could hurt a lot of people.
“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,” Booker said to the press.
However, in a tweet a few days ago, Ciscomani said he would not vote to make any cuts, promising to protect, streamline and improve Medicaid.
The Democrats on Sunday all addressed House Concurrent Resolution 14. In its text, it said it would deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise to protect older people and disability insurance under Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare.
Right now lawmakers are still considering the language of HRC 14. Both the House and the Senate need to work through a few differences before voting on it.
“In the reconciliation process, we want to ensure and have commitments amongst ourselves that we’re going to find a requisite number of savings while also protecting essential programs,” Johnson said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
