'Colossal mistake': Sen Mark Kelly doesn't hold back with attack on GOP

Congressional Democrats have wasted no time in going after Republicans who voted for the federal tax and spending bill that will cut health insurance and food benefits for the impoverished and disabled to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly did just that during a Friday morning press conference at the IBEW Local 640 electrician’s union building in Phoenix, where he slammed Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell for saying that people will “get over” losing their Medicaid coverage.

“Trump and Republicans in the House and the Senate, they were hell-bent on passing tax cuts for rich people and tax cuts for big corporations, and, to be honest with you, they did not care about anything else,” Kelly told reporters, community members and advocates for the programs facing cuts.

Just one week earlier, President Donald Trump signed into law his “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” after it narrowly passed through both chambers of Congress with only Republican support, including from all of Arizona’s Republican Congressmen: Andy Biggs, Juan Ciscomani, Eli Crane, Paul Gosar, Abe Hamadeh and David Schweikert.

The bill will make permanent the 2017 tax cuts from Trump’s first term and provide billions of dollars to carry out his plans of mass deportations. Those tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy, will be paid for in part through deep cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Those programs, respectively, provide health insurance and food assistance to low-income and disabled people.

Even with those spending cuts, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill could add $3.4 trillion to deficits over the next 10 years.

The bill is expected to shrink the federal funding for Arizona’s Medicaid program by $35 billion over the next decade, which will force an estimated 300,000 people off the program, on top of cuts in services for those still covered.

The Urban Institute estimates that nearly half of the 900,000 Arizonans who rely on SNAP benefits for food could be kicked out of the program, which would put intense pressure on the state’s food banks.

“It is a colossal mistake that this government has made, that my Republican colleagues have made and that this president has advocated for,” Kelly said.

The bill’s passage has caused panic for some Arizonans who rely on Medicaid for their children’s medications and for programs that help people with disabilities stay in their homes and gain important skills. Some two million people are enrolled in the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program.

But Democrats like Kelly have promised to try to reverse the cuts in the bill, an uphill battle with Republican majorities in both chambers of U.S. Congress. He said the best way to do that was to flip both chambers in 2026 and win the presidency in 2028.

“We’ve got to win elections,” Kelly said. “Elections do matter. There are consequences. We’re seeing the consequences of the last election, where the wealthiest Americans are going to benefit and folks that have a hard time putting food on the table are going to be further at risk.”

Quianna Brown, a Phoenix mother of three, gets health insurance for two of her children through a Medicaid program for adopted children, while her oldest child is covered by private insurance.

“I have a perspective of what our health care system looks like as a whole, and it is an ecosystem,” Brown said. “None of it stands on its own.”

She added that cuts to Medicaid will impact the entire system, not just the people kicked off of it.

Brown said she knows that her daughter who has disabilities won’t be kicked off Medicaid, but she might lose important services.

“The coverage means nothing if they don’t have access to services,” Brown said. “I don’t know how to explain to you the current feeling of hearing that your child needs a specialist and you can’t find one that doesn’t have a six month waiting list.”

January Contreras, executive director for Children’s Action Alliance, told the crowd that times are tough already with the high cost of groceries and housing, and that the bill will make things even more difficult for families.

“We will see hunger become a reality for more kids and families, and we will see more families not be able to go to a doctor,” she said.

Contreras said that her organization will work with Kelly and others to “mitigate the harm and to document the harm” caused by the cuts.

That means attempting to reverse the cuts in Congress, and holding the Arizona governor and state legislature accountable for doing everything they can to lessen the harm the cuts will cause to people, she said.

Alexis Aguirre teaches English language learners in the Osborn Elementary School District and is a former member of the Roosevelt School District Board. Aguirre criticized the Trump administration’s withholding of $6.8 billion that was set to go to public schools July 1 — money that was already allocated by Congress for before- and after-school programs, migrant education and English-language learning, among other initiatives.

“I’ve seen firsthand what happens when we fund schools and when we don’t,” she said.

This year, Osborn middle schools students doubled their English proficiency rate, she said, but that progress takes staff, training and curricula, which all require money.

“When federal funding disappears, we’re not trimming excess,” Aguirre said. “We’re trimming to the core of our public education system.”

Terri Shoemaker, the executive vice president of the Arizona Food Bank Network, warned that more Arizoans than ever are visiting food banks across the state. She said 700,000 people visited a food bank in the last month.

Arizona doesn’t have the money to make up for the 30% cuts to the SNAP program that are coming. The cuts mean that people will go hungry, she said, including children and military veterans. The state’s food banks will not be able to make up the difference, either, Shoemaker said.

The bill also gets rid of work requirement exemptions for people experiencing homelessness, who might not have transportation to get to a job or proper attire.

“So, what can we do?” Shoemaker asked. “Voice your concerns. Make sure all legislators understand the impacts of the bill. Make sure your friends, family and neighbors know the impacts of this bill.”

Kelly promised to keep doing whatever he can, including advocating for restored SNAP benefits as part of a Farm Bill, to reverse some of the cuts, but admitted that it won’t be easy.

“We didn’t win this fight, but I’m not over it and you shouldn’t be, because this is a defining moment, a turning point for our state and for our country,” Kelly said.

He slammed Trump and his Republican supporters for taking lunch away from children to give money to billionaires.

“This is not a political issue, this is a human issue,” Brown said. “My kid’s very life has been reduced to a line item, and it is p---ing me off.”