- 5/28/2025
On Tuesday, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) and Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) held a town hall in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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NewsTranscript
00:00:30Hello.
00:00:52Hello.
00:00:58Hello.
00:01:10And the melody sounds very good.
00:01:21Thank you so much representative sounds very safe for the work that she's been doing just with the community.
00:01:32But we're speaking with clarity.
00:01:40Right now.
00:01:43Not normal, we are better.
00:01:46I'm more honest.
00:01:51I was just down in Las Cruces, so I'm coming up from Las Cruces from yesterday and today.
00:02:00And we just came from the last visit was with the senior center.
00:02:06And it was a conversation around Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and nutrition program.
00:02:15So, by the way, I'm better.
00:02:22I'm better versus one of your United States questions started with that.
00:02:32His name is Steve, and he was sharing his story of reflecting on all these important programs.
00:02:40He's now over 65.
00:02:46He just survived our attack.
00:02:51And he sadly lost his spouse at the beginning of 2025,
00:02:59who had been diagnosed with an aggressive case of dementia.
00:03:07They moved to Mexico, 2006 from Oklahoma.
00:03:11They wanted to go into the mountains, they moved out of the bottom place in Rio.
00:03:16But after they moved there a few years in, he noticed that there was something wrong with his spouse.
00:03:24So they wanted to get checked and I'll be gone early stages right.
00:03:29But dimension. And so, they made a decision to move from Rio to get closer to the city, because they believe that they are going to need care.
00:03:39They were going to find a rural health clinic or a facility that we could get to, whether it be El Paso or in Las Cruces.
00:03:46So, they made that decision to move there.
00:03:51They then discovered some nonprofits that provided care and support for families.
00:03:57Because after she was diagnosed with dementia, he asked her, well, what are your wishes?
00:04:02Help me understand what you want to do over the long term.
00:04:05She said, I want you to take care of me.
00:04:09I want to live at home.
00:04:12He said, absolutely, whatever I can do, we're going to do.
00:04:15So, they discovered nonprofits that supported families that took care of loved ones and gave them that support.
00:04:20And any one of you here that has cared for a loved one that may have been diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer's,
00:04:30you know, it's not just for the person that's been diagnosed, but for loved ones around that individual as well.
00:04:44So, Steve and his wife, they found the seniors and said, we will go because we can get help.
00:04:56Whenever things got bad at home, they signed us up for Meals on Wheels.
00:05:00We didn't have to worry about going to the grocery store or having to cook because I was caring for her.
00:05:05And they became a support group.
00:05:10Well, about a year ago before she passed away, she suffered a heart attack.
00:05:15And as Steve said,
00:05:17she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:20She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:23She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:26She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:29She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:32She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:35She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:38She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:41She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
00:05:45After she passed away, Steve said, I still come to the center.
00:05:54Not because it helps me emotionally, but because I want to give back.
00:06:00And I want to help other families that were in that phase like me.
00:06:04Some of you know my mom's partner.
00:06:09Some of you also know that three years ago.
00:06:12I'm very.
00:06:23It's rare.
00:06:26You recover a bit and then the rest is the rest of your life.
00:06:31It's rare.
00:06:34You recover a bit and then the rest is the rest of your life.
00:06:37But I only survived that because my sister was at my mom's house the
00:06:40morning that it hit me.
00:06:43She was able to get me not to the hospital, but to us.
00:06:46Those of you that are not there.
00:06:48Once you leave.
00:06:51It's like three or four miles away.
00:06:55It's like three or four miles away.
00:06:58My sister pulled in and they didn't even wait for her to explain what was
00:07:01going on.
00:07:03And they grabbed me and they put me in an ambulance and they started
00:07:04treating me.
00:07:06That split decision to get me that ambulance,
00:07:08they could start treating me contributed to saving my life.
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00:12:11I look forward to the conversations, but I want to thank you all for taking time to come out tonight.
00:12:17I'm away from your schedules from your families as well. Thanks for being here. It's an honor to be with each other. Now, can we welcome United States representative nominees?
00:12:28Check.
00:12:38I don't have a mic. Oh, wait, it's working.
00:12:43All right, well, good evening everyone. I am Congresswoman Melanie Simsbury and I am deeply proud to represent United States.
00:12:52It is deep in the heart of our district, but a lot of people don't know this. We also have 10 counties across central New Mexico.
00:13:06Our district actually stretches all the way to Roswell and Lincoln County and all the way north to the boundary with Santa Ana and San Felipe Pueblo and we are deeply honored to be able to represent.
00:13:18Our communities every day, but before I kick things off with a few comments to take care of questions, I do want to acknowledge that we have several elected officials who joined us tonight. Mayor Keller, I saw you in the audience a few moments ago.
00:13:33I see some others of you out there. I see another state out of Kevin Freedman's, and the Northeast Heights Representative Freedman's office, but that's a fair thing to do, so thank you for joining us tonight, and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look
00:14:04forward to seeing you all in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you in the next few weeks and we look forward to seeing you
00:14:22the House Republicans are not only trying to shove through the House, but I've sent now over to the
00:14:28Senate and that we are counting on Senator Littlehawn and Heinrich to fight against in this
00:14:36battle for the future of our country. So I know that many of you have been following what has
00:14:42been happening on social media and the news, but in case you haven't, let me just tell you a little
00:14:48bit about what is in this bill and why the Republicans are so hell-bent on trying to get
00:14:56it across the finish line. It's important to understand that this is Donald Trump's domestic
00:15:01policy agenda and they've taken every bad idea that the Republicans have come up with for the
00:15:08last 30 years and tried to shove it into what they're calling one big beautiful disgusting
00:15:15bill in my personal opinion that includes everything from decimating the environment
00:15:21to decimating our economy to decimating our healthcare and our food assistance to decimating
00:15:27the fundamental framework that supports our communities while attacking immigrants and
00:15:32due process of law in our communities. And there is so much in this bill it is difficult to even
00:15:40encapsulate it in a short introduction. But what I'm trying to do is I try to help people
00:15:46understand what's in this thousand page bill is to give people the ABCs of what's in this bill.
00:15:53So A, a massive historic tax break for billionaires. Now Senator Littlehawn just
00:16:01mentioned this is a re-upping of the 2017 tax scam that Donald Trump passed in his
00:16:07first administration. But what is important to understand is that this is an even bigger tax break
00:16:14than they put through in 2017. This is not only for the millionaires and corporations but as
00:16:21Senator Littlehawn just laid out this is the largest set of tax breaks ever in the history of the
00:16:28United States for the ultra-rich. It wasn't good enough to them to give estate tax rebates to
00:16:34people with 10 million dollar mansions. They have to do it for 22 million dollar mansions.
00:16:42This bill according to the Congressional Budget Office would make the wealthiest 10% of Americans
00:16:494% richer while making the 10% poorest Americans 4% poorer. It literally is stealing from the low
00:17:00income people of this country to pay for tax breaks for billionaires on the backs of our people.
00:17:08That is exactly what they're trying to do. Now don't get me wrong, there's a few things in this
00:17:14bill that are crumbs for the working people and the middle class people of this country. Things
00:17:20that even I agree with. I'm not going to talk about them because I don't think I want to promote
00:17:24the bill but what I will say is that those are mere crumbs in a sea of money giveaways
00:17:32to billionaires and corporations and kickbacks to the buddies of Donald Trump.
00:17:37So B and the ABC's, billions of dollars in kickbacks to Donald Trump's friends. Now let
00:17:45me tell you what that looks like. Many of you have probably heard about the Golden Dome Project.
00:17:50Donald Trump wants to build the largest atomic missile defense system ever constructed on planet
00:17:57earth and technical experts don't even know if it's technically feasible and he wants to spend
00:18:03your taxpayer dollars and steal your health care to pay for it. You know who he wants to get the
00:18:11contracts for him? Elon Musk. Exactly and this is their first down payment towards billions and
00:18:19billions of dollars in nuclear weapons systems. It also includes kickbacks for oil and gas.
00:18:27They literally lower the royalties rate for oil and gas across the country. You know what that
00:18:34does? It makes oil and gas executives richer. It also has kickbacks for AI companies. It has
00:18:42kickbacks for private prisons. It includes mandatory vetting requirements for immigration
00:18:49detention. This bill is all about kickbacks to Donald Trump and his billionaire friends
00:18:56and the way that they're going to pay for it is the C. Cuts. Cuts to life-saving programs.
00:19:04They want to cut 890 some dollars out of Medicaid alone but after CBO scored this bill last week
00:19:13after they tinkered with it, they found that this bill would cut almost 1.3 trillion dollars
00:19:21out of the health care system over the next 10 years. What that means in places like New Mexico
00:19:28is hospitals closing down, rural health care clinics closing down, private practitioners
00:19:34that it's already difficult to get in to see shutting down because two-thirds of New Mexicans
00:19:41depend on their health care from Medicaid and Medicare and even though Donald Trump promised
00:19:48that he was not going to cut Medicare after CBO scored this bill last Wednesday it showed that it
00:19:55would put into place mandatory cuts on the order of a half trillion dollars in cuts through
00:20:02sequestration to Medicare. It will decimate our health care system and in the dark of night as
00:20:10they were amending this bill right before they passed it out of the rules committee
00:20:15they put a mandatory abortion ban on the marketplace in the bill. So if you have your
00:20:23health insurance through the marketplace reproductive care would no longer be covered
00:20:29under this bill. This is possibly one of the most evil bills in modern history. It would cut food
00:20:37assistance to over 18 million children for school lunch programs across the country.
00:20:44It would cost seven million Americans access to food assistance. In New Mexico alone one in five
00:20:52families depend on SNAP in order to help supplement their groceries a month. Our food banks the
00:20:59Senator Lujan said cannot cover the difference. That means children in this state will go hungry
00:21:07period period. It also cuts Pell Grants and assistance for student loans. How many people
00:21:16here went to school on Pell Grants and student loans? Me too. It will also cut assistance for
00:21:23education to millions of Americans and that is how they are paying for it. That is the C. The D
00:21:31and our ABCs of this bill is decimating environmental programs and worker protections.
00:21:37This bill literally will open millions of acres of land across the United States to mandatory
00:21:46oil and gas drilling mining and logging and all of this is just kickbacks to friends of theirs.
00:21:53When you read the bill they're very specific kickbacks and it includes requirements for
00:21:59mandatory drilling in New Mexico. Well guess what right now oil and gas drilling is shutting
00:22:05down in New Mexico because Donald Trump's tariffs are undermining oil and gas markets.
00:22:12So all of this is just about padding the pockets of executives who are their friends.
00:22:19It also would cut worker protections for our federal workers. It would make them at will. It
00:22:26would cut their federal retirement and it would cut their annual pay by requiring them to pay
00:22:32more into their retirement. So we are fighting back against all of those terrible decimating cuts.
00:22:40And finally the E in our ABCs is that it would eviscerate a balanced budget. When we say this
00:22:49is the biggest cut in Medicaid Medicare and food assistance ever in American history and this is
00:22:57the largest cut in taxes for billionaires in American history it still isn't a balanced
00:23:05budget proposal because it would also require the largest deficit spending ever in American
00:23:11history and would cost you the taxpayers and future generations up to five trillion dollars
00:23:20in deficit spending in the next 10 years. So any Republican who claims to be fiscally responsible
00:23:29when they look themselves in the mirror is lying to themselves. So what we know is that every single
00:23:37member of the New Mexico delegation is going to fight to the very end to defeat this bill and to
00:23:43defend our democracy. We know that you have much more political stripes what your feelings what
00:23:55your background is that New Mexico cannot afford what is in this bill. And so we are here tonight
00:24:03to hear from all of you but we want you to know that we will fight with every ounce of our being.
00:24:10Thank you. We spent three straight days through two all-nighters and 28 straight hours in the
00:24:18rules committee and all through the night Congresswoman Ledger Fernandez was an absolute
00:24:24rock star fighting this bill in the rules committee.
00:24:31I voted no on this bill. We did everything we could in the House. We introduced 522 amendments
00:24:40and the Republicans would not accept a single amendment because as I always say this is not
00:24:48normal. This is not normal. This is not normal. This is not how we should be legislating and this
00:24:57is not the end as well. So our hope is that as this bill goes to the Senate we know that the
00:25:05Republicans on the Senate ultimately will likely fold on many of these provisions but we can't
00:25:12let up the pressure because there are some of these Republican senators who have already
00:25:17stated publicly that they won't support cuts to Medicaid, that they won't allow a major
00:25:24deficit spend and so our job as New Mexicans because you all already elected a stellar
00:25:30delegation to fight this bullshit is to keep up the pressure on the rest of the institution
00:25:41to continue to speak up, to continue to make calls, to keep organizing and as we're working
00:25:47in our communities to make sure that we are caring for each other because at the end of the day we
00:25:54still have three and a half more years of this devastating administration and I can tell you
00:26:01as somebody who is on the front lines as the ranking member the committee that is trying to
00:26:07stop what they are doing through DOJ and all of these efforts to cut the federal government
00:26:13we are in for a rough ride but New Mexicans have seen far worse and so let me tell you we've
00:26:20survived McCarthyism, we have survived much worse periods than we are entering right now,
00:26:27we have survived the darkest moments in American history and I know that we are resilient,
00:26:33we are strong, we believe in our people, we are organized and we will get through this.
00:26:40So stay in the fight, stay with us and continue to organize and fight
00:26:46and push back and with that we will open it up for questions.
00:26:49Thanks.
00:27:02We are going to be pulling raffle tickets. I do want to start by just saying that a big
00:27:07thank you to Bernafascio and Albuquerque Public Schools for lending us this beautiful space
00:27:12tonight on a very short notice. Because of that they do have to have, they have their staff here
00:27:17that's their overtime and we do have to be out here, we do have to end the event by seven
00:27:24about seven o'clock. So we are going to move through questions fairly quickly and then our
00:27:30staff does have to revert the room for tomorrow's event. That was kind of our, when we begged and
00:27:37I pleaded to get into the facility we said we'll set up the room for you. So that's how we're
00:27:42going to do it. We're going to be reading four raffle ticket numbers. If you could please line
00:27:48up in two on this aisle here and then two on the other aisle so we can have the staff in those two
00:27:54aisles and please raise your hand. Also there's staff from Congresswoman Stansbury's office and
00:28:01Team Lohan here as well. If all the staff in the room can please raise your hand. If anybody does
00:28:07need assistance on any federal issues please come and talk to one of our team members. We can assist
00:28:12you right away at the tables outside if you're having with any of the federal agencies. So with
00:28:17that we're going to go ahead and move it to Q&A. I'm going to have the mic over to Desiree from our
00:28:22team. All right so zero four four seven.
00:28:36So you can come on up. Okay and then zero zero zero nine.
00:28:43Yeah we're going to come to you. Zero two zero five zero three four four.
00:28:58So we call your raffle ticket number if you could please raise your hand so staff know where to find
00:29:02you.
00:29:15Hi my name is Dana. I'm a social worker here in Albuquerque and I work with kids with autism
00:29:24and I also work with kids who are transgender and I feel like at this point in time
00:29:33there's so much animosity towards both of these communities and so much aimed at these two
00:29:45like intersecting communities and I want to know how you guys are going to support
00:29:51both of these communities both for adults and for children to really look at
00:29:58how these federal programs are going to potentially shake out in terms of what
00:30:04services they're still going to provide.
00:30:13So are we correct you're going to ask four questions at once and then we're going to
00:30:18respond or do you want us to respond to them one at a time? Okay. Dana thank you so much
00:30:25for that question and what you do. Lifting up stories of friends who may not be able to be
00:30:33with us tonight matters so much. With the new secretary of health and human services
00:30:42I'm trying to talk about
00:30:45my gosh. Those that have been recently nominated to join health and human services
00:30:57and others that have yet to be considered on the senate floor that would join that body.
00:31:03Questions that I've asked them not only the secretary but also these other nominees
00:31:07in one space or another asking them about you know if someone has autism do you think that
00:31:16they can't work? Do you think that if someone has autism and the list goes on and on
00:31:22everything's been debunked and they won't answer the questions. They try to just move away.
00:31:30They refuse to debunk this notion of what their conspiracy theories are of what
00:31:37has caused autism contributing to autism. They're all lies.
00:31:46So one thing that needs to happen in this space is to won't call out the lies.
00:31:51Call out the nonsense. Make sure that there's truth for the American people.
00:31:55That way they're not falling for this nonsense that is being preached at them as well.
00:31:59When it comes to these programs and the devastating cuts that are associated with
00:32:03work programs, with Medicaid programs, access to care, access to specialists,
00:32:09it's standing up to senator or secretary Kennedy and making sure that he can't be doing these
00:32:13things. One of the leaders in the senate is Maggie Hassan where you may know the United
00:32:18States senator from New Hampshire. She has a son who has autism. And Maggie has been
00:32:27leading the fight associated with one policy after another. She and I have both introduced
00:32:32legislation and passed different pieces of legislation. One that I'm very proud of,
00:32:37there's someone on my team whose daughter has autism. And I was driving home with him one
00:32:44evening from some meetings. And he turned to me and he said, you know, I worry about
00:32:51Sophie and all the rest. He goes, what happens when I die?
00:32:56What's going to be there to provide support? I didn't have an answer for him.
00:33:03So we got back with the team. I talked to Maggie. And it turns out that there's some
00:33:07foreign federal programs that provide support to parents of autistic kids. It hadn't been
00:33:16reauthorized. It had been lapsed. Well, we were fortunate to get enough bipartisan support
00:33:22to get this thing moving. But now the secretary of health and human services and this president
00:33:31threatened that very program and said, no, no, no, that program is false. It's not needed.
00:33:36We're going to get to the bottom of this with all these other conspiracy theories and that's
00:33:39not going to cure. Well, at the same time they do that, they go after the nationals
00:33:44to do the health, they go after CDC, they eliminate research grants,
00:33:49not just for autism, for brain health, dementia, Alzheimer's, cancer, you name it.
00:33:59They've devastated all of this stuff. There needs to be a path forward, not just in these
00:34:08midterms because we can't wait until then, but they're going to be important to restore
00:34:11checks and balances and stop this nonsense. But until then, we got to slow this train down
00:34:16and we have to make sure that we call out these lies every step of the way.
00:34:20And look, when it comes to my transgender constituents, in the same way, people want
00:34:24to start picking fights with folks and start pointing fingers and all the rest.
00:34:28Maybe they just need to look in the mirror. They need to ask questions about treating people with
00:34:34respect and dignity and looking at the policies and trying to demonize a few folks so they can
00:34:39try to feel better about themselves because that's all that this negative policy is.
00:34:44We need to call balls and strikes here, truth and false. It's no more about, well,
00:34:49that's not completely true, or, oh, you know, you're skimming over the facts. You know, it's a
00:34:53lie. Like Melanie said, a lot of it's bullshit. Growing up on a small farm here and you actually
00:35:04go, I get to talk about what it's like cleaning a barn.
00:35:13And these days, one of the things that we heard most of the senate was my dad
00:35:16gave me a shovel and rubber boots and have them clean the barn where the animals would rest at
00:35:20home. Why don't we take the next question and I'll address that in the next question as well.
00:35:34So we can hear from as many folks as possible.
00:35:38Good evening, senator and congresswoman. My name is Jamie Trujillo. I'm the executive director of
00:35:43the New Mexico adult education association. And I mean, it's no surprise to anyone that education
00:35:49is under a whole lot of threat right now, both with K-12 education and with adult education
00:35:54and literacy. So my question is what actions are being taken along the house and the senate side
00:36:01to prevent the dissolution of the department of education and to ensure the reauthorization
00:36:07of WIOA and the continuance of adult education funding federally? Okay. This is actually a great
00:36:15question that ties back to the question that was just asked. So first of all, one of the things
00:36:21that we're trying to do is to help convey that we are fighting back on every possible front.
00:36:27We are fighting in Congress, in the courts, and in our communities. And we have to use the tools
00:36:33that we have at our disposal to stop them. The way that my colleague Jamie Raskin, who's perhaps,
00:36:40I think, one of the best constitutional scholars in the country would say,
00:36:47is we have to think short term and long term. In the short term, we have to stop the bad stuff now.
00:36:55And in the long term, we have to reclaim our democracy. And so in the short term, the most
00:37:01powerful tool we have is the courts. And even though we're seeing decisions getting handed down,
00:37:09even at the Supreme Court, that personally I don't like, including a decision yesterday,
00:37:15the courts are doing their jobs. And I do want to say that we won a huge victory on Friday in a
00:37:23lawsuit against the Trump administration, stopping them against the dismantling of Department of
00:37:29Education. In fact, the federal court ordered that what Donald Trump had done was completely illegal,
00:37:37that he could not dismantle Department of Education without Congress, and that every
00:37:43staff person that had been fired, unauthorized by Department of Ed had to be offered their job back.
00:37:49Now, the Trump administration is obviously going to appeal that to the Supreme Court.
00:37:55And we don't know exactly what the Supreme Court will hand down. But I can tell you,
00:38:00the Constitution is laid out by the founding books very clear. Congress holds the first
00:38:06and the authorizing capabilities to create and to dissolve federal agencies. It is illegal for
00:38:13Donald Trump to sign an executive order saying he's doing away with the Department of Education.
00:38:19So we know that ultimately, we will prevail. And we know that Congress is not going to dissolve
00:38:25the Department of Education, because we have colleagues on both sides of the aisle that
00:38:29have already publicly committed to that. And I don't see any real legislation moving through.
00:38:35But that doesn't mean that they're not going to try to starve these agencies. And that's
00:38:40exactly what they're doing. And so one of the things that I think is really important to
00:38:45understand right now, is that the Trump administration is trying to use the budget
00:38:50to starve anything that they don't agree with. And inside of the Department of Education,
00:38:56while the rhetoric that they speak publicly is about sending these programs to the states,
00:39:01it's actually a full scale assault on the federal role in protecting accessibility to education.
00:39:09Because you guys, the reason why Department of Education exists is because of the Civil Rights
00:39:14Movement. Because in the 1960s in this country, not all children had access to education,
00:39:21and many still do not. But it is a federal responsibility to ensure that all people in
00:39:28this country, regardless of their age, their ability, their race, their sexual identity,
00:39:33their gender, what have you, have access to an equal education. And that is why the Department
00:39:39of Education exists. That is its purpose, including adult education. So while I can't
00:39:46assure you that Trump is not going to continue to have his WWE Worldwide Wrestling Executive
00:39:53dismantle the Department of Education, who had an interesting adventure at a meeting a few months
00:39:58ago, I can assure you that they will not be able to do so legally. So one of the things that I've
00:40:05been encouraging school districts to do, because at the end of the day, the school districts and
00:40:11educational institutions are the implementers, is know your rights as an education institution.
00:40:19If you get a letter from the Trump administration saying you have to do X, Y, and Z,
00:40:24and it doesn't feel right, get an attorney, find out your rights, push back. Because what we've
00:40:31seen over the last several months is that it's very easy to capitulate, right, to say we're scared,
00:40:37bad things that are happening, but we have to stand up and fight back. And the best example
00:40:43I can give you is Harvard University. We are not going to do that. Now they're a very privileged
00:40:53university. They have the largest endowment on planet Earth and the best lawyers on planet Earth.
00:40:58But they said, we're not going to capitulate to these demands because they're unlawful and
00:41:04they're immoral. Donald Trump backed off. Now he's continuing to attack them. But we need a coordinated
00:41:13and sustained resistance at all levels. And that also means at the local level. So if you're an
00:41:19educator, if you're a part of the education community, please contact the state, contact
00:41:24our offices and find out your rights. Now the same is true with supports for kids with disabilities.
00:41:33They are trying to dismantle programs at the federal level, including federal statutorily
00:41:39mandated programs that provide accommodations for kids with autism, learning differences,
00:41:46neurodiversity, and we will not let them. I can tell you this is a bipartisan issue. So while they
00:41:53may try to start these programs, we will fight back in the courts and I am confident that we will
00:41:59ultimately win. Secondly, when it comes to the trans community, I have never seen a more sustained
00:42:06attack ever in the history of my lifetime on the trans and LGBTQ plus community. And I can only say
00:42:13in the great words of Kamala Harris, we are not going back. We are not going back. And they can
00:42:20come at us every single day, they can attack the trans community, they can attack us through Medicaid,
00:42:29they can attack our communities in words and by using their platforms, but we are not going back.
00:42:37And I can tell you that the Democratic caucus in the House and the Senate stands strong with
00:42:42the trans and LGBTQ plus community and especially our trans kids here in New Mexico. New Mexico
00:42:50passed the most forward-leaning transgender affirming care bill in the United States because
00:43:04we will continue to fight and uplift your stories to
00:43:08honor your human dignity and to fight for your rights.
00:43:21I'm Debra Blake. I live here in Albuquerque. A couple years ago, I met two women while I was
00:43:29fly fishing and decided to help them. And as I got to know them, they were both retired Army trauma
00:43:36nurses. And we've had a lot of conversations about service in the military, commitment to the
00:43:44Constitution, commitment to the country. They're also members of the LGBTQ community.
00:43:53And I just wonder, given the quality of their service, and as I
00:43:57looked around in their camping gear and their vehicles, saw a bright star, which doesn't come
00:44:04lightly. And in a way you answered part of my question in terms of support for the community.
00:44:11But what about action to support LGBTQ plus in the military, as well as women?
00:44:21One of these women retired as a Master Sergeant, the other is a Colonel. And there was quite a
00:44:28story tied to that. So can you focus your comments a little bit on the military? Thank you.
00:44:35Well, Debra, thank you for being here as well. Especially with Memorial Day.
00:44:50Last night in Las Cruces, many of us were caught up in part of the convoluted visual as well.
00:44:56I'm so sorry. I don't mean to be disruptive, but I cannot take this anymore. What we allowed
00:45:01to happen in Gaza is the limit of what we allowed to happen here. These are all very important
00:45:07issues. Very important. And I agree. I agree to support the trans community. I agree to support
00:45:14Social Security and Medicaid. But what we allowed to happen in Gaza
00:45:18and Palestine is the limit of what we allowed to happen here.
00:45:21Not here.
00:45:22We need to put an end to this now.
00:45:25We have so much to do.
00:45:27We are dying. We are burning alive. I'm going to play Besat.
00:45:33Yes, yes.
00:45:34We're going to be asking questions as well.
00:45:41Senator Rainbow Hat and Representative Sandberg to take the lead for an arms embargo now against
00:45:48Israel. What they are doing is genocide. They are doing genocide. And I will just say this.
00:45:54If you agree with me, with all the problems that we are facing here, it is the limit of
00:45:59what we are accepting.
00:46:00Y'all, if you can, let's have a conversation. I appreciate that. And I respect that.
00:46:09But the reason that we have the pulling in tickets is to make as clear as we can,
00:46:13if you have any questions.
00:46:14There are children in locks.
00:46:20Children burning alive.
00:46:21I don't want to get your voice taken.
00:46:28Yes.
00:46:28No, no, no.
00:46:29Come on.
00:46:30Come on.
00:46:30Come on.
00:46:31No, no, no.
00:46:31We're good, sir.
00:46:33We're good.
00:46:33Thank you, Commander.
00:46:35Sit down.
00:46:37You guys, I'm sorry.
00:46:38I just got to take your time.
00:46:39Commander, I'm sorry.
00:46:40I'm trying to get an answer.
00:46:42Get out.
00:46:43No, I'm sorry.
00:46:44I see you.
00:46:45Bye.
00:46:46You're number one!
00:46:48Y'all too.
00:46:49All right.
00:46:51Y'all, y'all speak.
00:46:53Everyone does.
00:46:55And Commander, it means a lot that you're here.
00:46:58Coming in with the work that you've done with Council of Veterans Day in and day out,
00:47:01and it's down in Gallup as well.
00:47:03So it's just great to see you here, my friend, as well.
00:47:06Look, Debra, I think the way that I answered the question is he has said
00:47:10that he's no business being Secretary of Defense.
00:47:12Well, you know, the vital things that he has said and continues to say
00:47:25about women serving in the military, ignoring abuses to women, to the LGBTQ community,
00:47:36to LGBTQ women serving in our military.
00:47:41It just has absolutely no place.
00:47:43As a matter of fact, when some of my colleagues voted for this guy's nomination,
00:47:48who were those that authored the legislation that provided the most protections for women
00:47:55serving in the military, and ignoring his advocacy, it shows what Trump and Musk and
00:48:03others were up to with their threats.
00:48:05I hope he stays serving as Secretary of Defense and he finds something else to do.
00:48:12He's continuing to put our soldiers in harm's way, but using signal and other social media
00:48:21tools to talk about what's going on, ignoring the national security implications.
00:48:28You should hear what Martin Kelly says when you have a conversation with him or a colleague
00:48:33who served in the Air Force, astronaut, United States Senator, out of Arizona.
00:48:40He's had some big fights with him.
00:48:41He picked the violent on that.
00:48:42And the same way that Representative Stansbury said looking to the courts, standing up, speaking
00:48:51up, holding him accountable, calling out this nonsense every day is what we have to do in
00:48:55the short term.
00:48:57But we better keep an eye on what devastation he's caused and what he's done.
00:49:02And he's caused for the long term as well when it comes to recruitment and morale as
00:49:07well for those that are serving.
00:49:08And to those friends that you met, you please give them a big thank you from me for their
00:49:15service.
00:49:16And if you have their names, Debra, you share them with me as well so that way we can get
00:49:19in touch with them and make sure that they're getting the service that they earned as well.
00:49:21Next question.
00:49:28Hi, I am in the mental health commission.
00:49:38So my question is around like insurance companies.
00:49:43I have a lot of clients who talked about like they either stopped seeing their providers
00:49:49or thought about a lot less than they needed to because insurance stopped paying.
00:49:54I didn't have the money to go, like all those sort of things.
00:49:58And it's just really disheartening, frustrating.
00:50:01It's all kinds of stuff knowing that insurance companies don't want to pay for this.
00:50:05To them, it's like some little side service and they don't see the importance.
00:50:09I don't know what Congress can do about this.
00:50:11But it doesn't ever seem like it's getting better.
00:50:16And then I have colleagues that are private providers and they're always talking about
00:50:21how they're finding services that they provided.
00:50:28All right.
00:50:30I'm going to go back quickly to the question on service members and veterans and the mental
00:50:37health question.
00:50:39I just want to echo what Senator Locano was saying, thanking all of our service members.
00:50:44If there's any service members and veterans in the audience, thank you for your service
00:50:48first and foremost.
00:50:51But yeah, I'll just say it again.
00:50:54We're not going back.
00:50:55What I see Donald Trump and his administration trying to do right now is to fight the tide
00:51:03of cultural change.
00:51:05They are full scale assaulting the Civil Rights Act.
00:51:09They are full scale trying to attack the LGBTQ plus movement.
00:51:14They are full scale trying to attack the movement that happened over the last five years since
00:51:19George Floyd was murdered.
00:51:21They are trying to take America backwards.
00:51:24And in their attack on the American people, I think we are going to see a flood of people
00:51:31running for office.
00:51:33And when we are able to take back the reins in the midterms in 2026, we are going to see
00:51:38our country catapulting forward culturally in a way we have not seen.
00:51:42In 2016, when Richard Nixon tried to take us back and then used corruption in the White
00:51:52House to do so.
00:51:54And I think that's exactly what's going to happen now.
00:51:57So while it is a scary time, whether you're a member of the LGBTQ plus community or another
00:52:03community who's being targeted right now, stand strong, stand proud, and know that history
00:52:09is on your side.
00:52:10Gaza is being targeted.
00:52:12You're bought and paid for by so little.
00:52:14$142,000 from a packaging.
00:52:17I'm happy to take a moment of silence for Gaza at this moment.
00:52:36Why don't you all speak out against the starvation and the blockade that's keeping
00:52:41fools coming in?
00:52:44I'm going to answer this question and then come back to Gaza.
00:52:48The question about mental health services that was asked just a moment ago, right now
00:52:54the attack on Medicaid, Medicare, and the insurance exchange means that those services
00:53:01are going to be even more difficult to fund.
00:53:03And so part of why so much of our effort right now is in fighting what is happening in Congress
00:53:10to cut back those programs.
00:53:12But in addition to the reconciliation package that the Republicans in Congress are trying
00:53:17to pass, Donald Trump delivered a regular operational budget to Congress that cuts healthcare
00:53:23programs, especially for mental health and behavioral health.
00:53:27And so we're also going to be fighting back on all of that.
00:53:31But I can tell you that the things that Senator Lujan and myself and Senator Heinrich have
00:53:36been doing for New Mexico is that we've been trying to use our community earmarked funding
00:53:43to expand behavioral and mental health services.
00:53:46So we have together helped fund a new mental health program and campus for First Nations
00:53:54here in the International District.
00:53:55We just submitted a new behavioral health funding proposal for Sandoval County, which
00:54:02would bring the first behavioral health campus to Sandoval County in the town of Bernalillo.
00:54:08So we're working to try to expand the resources.
00:54:12Now, with respect to Gaza, let me be clear.
00:54:14I am 100 percent, 1,000 percent opposed to everything that is happening in Gaza right
00:54:21now.
00:54:24Just joining 96 members of Congress and publicly calling on an end to the blockade to food
00:54:32and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
00:54:34And I can tell you that myself and Senator Lujan are among the most forward leaning in
00:54:40Congress on this issue.
00:54:41We are speaking up, we are speaking out, we are taking the votes and we are doing everything
00:54:46that we can.
00:54:47But let me tell you, there has never been any administration worse than Donald Trump
00:54:52on this issue.
00:54:53We need an arms embargo.
00:54:54Donald Trump is literally trying to collaborate with Netanyahu right now to take over Gaza.
00:55:02Even an arms embargo will not stop that.
00:55:06We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:12We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:14We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:16We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:18We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:20We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:22We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:24We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:26We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:28We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:30We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:32We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:34We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:36We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:38We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:40We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:42We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:44We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:46We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:48We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:50We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:52We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:54We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:56We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:55:58We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:56:00We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:56:02We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:56:04We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:56:06We have to get rid of Donald Trump.
00:56:08On the question with mental health,
00:56:10on the question with mental health,
00:56:12on the question with mental health,
00:56:14on the question with mental health,
00:56:16what the idea that's happening in this space
00:56:18What the idea that's happening in this space
00:56:20is that as you know
00:56:22provider to provider,
00:56:24any of you that are here in that space,
00:56:26it's all different coding.
00:56:28They do that intentionally to make it harder
00:56:30for you to get reimbursed for providing this care.
00:56:32You want to talk about another gimmick,
00:56:34another scam within the system,
00:56:36system. This is another area where, look, health insurance is regulated at the state level,
00:56:42but there are things that can be done at the federal level, including those that Representative
00:56:47Stansberry listed that she's introduced, that Martin and I have been working on in the Senate
00:56:51as well. But we need to look at this coding initiative in addition to this notion that
00:56:56the Trump administration is trying to devastate telehealth services for mental health as well
00:57:02that have been growing in use among patients. That's critically important. So I think there's
00:57:07some things that we can do in that space. And Jeff, look, similar to what Representative
00:57:12Stansberry shared with you, I had a meal with this gentleman with his grandfather and his daughter
00:57:22and the day that we sat down to have a meal and to hear what was going on,
00:57:32he went out to collect some water from some cisterns that were less than a mile away from
00:57:39his home, but they were below a settlement and right beyond that was an outpost. And anytime
00:57:45he tried to go get water, people were waiting to beat him up. The IDF at the time was told,
00:57:53well, you need to go with the villager from Susia and make sure that he can get his water.
00:57:58But what was happening is as soon as there was violence, they would just stop wanting to leave
00:58:03so they would get water. Well, the same village which Representative Stansberry believed also
00:58:08visited, it's down a dirt road. Once you get off the main road there, down a dirt road,
00:58:16being there, I could have been at home in Namibia with a neighbor raising sheep and goats.
00:58:23I could have been on the Navajo Nation. I could have been down south where I was yesterday.
00:58:27At the top of that dirt driveway, there was some infrastructure.
00:58:33The Israeli government just built the water system. That sounds good.
00:58:38It's a speaking away. It's a few feet away from the home. So later, this particular visit,
00:58:45I was with Chris Van Hollen and also Jeff Markley. It was the three of us. And so we're meeting with
00:58:53the Prime Minister and some of his folks. And Chris is asking very typical questions. So was Jeff.
00:59:01I thought, well, there's a blockade right now on Medical
00:59:082007. And this village can't get water even though it just needs to be tapped into.
00:59:14I mean, there was actually a spigot you could probably put something into to get water.
00:59:19So I asked the question. I said, why can't this village get water? The Prime Minister said, well,
00:59:25it was never my intention for them not to get water. Well, it's never happened. They never
00:59:28turned it on. I asked the same question on the blockade on Medical. This is a few years back.
00:59:36This predates October 7th. He says it was never my intention to keep medical
00:59:41goods from getting out there, but they never turned it on as well.
00:59:44That's why there's a number of senators like myself that are saying to anyone
00:59:49that the United States is providing any support to them to follow U.S. law. That's simply what
00:59:55this is. Follow the law. And when it comes to human rights, let's have that conversation.
01:00:02It's not okay for innocent folks not just to be killed, but now to be starved to death.
01:00:12That's not right. That's not humanitarian. And so, look, I thank you for asking that question,
01:00:20Jeff, and for others that are here as well that are raising their voices and speaking up. The
01:00:26passion matters. The knowledge matters. Asking tough questions matters. That's the only way
01:00:35people are held accountable. I don't know what the end is here, but what's happening now
01:00:42is not acceptable to most people that I know
01:00:48and the observers that I'm reading about from around the world.
01:00:54More has to be done. You're absolutely correct.
01:01:01And that's why that needs to be lifted and there needs to be the good of food and things delivered
01:01:07while we look at legislation that is addressing the questions that have been asked today.
01:01:12Look at the votes on the Senate floor. Look at my record. Look at Martin's record. And then
01:01:16let's chat some more. Because let's be prepared to have conversations about these issues and know
01:01:23how people are voting and know remarks that we've been sharing, actions that we've been taking,
01:01:30things of that nature. And I would invite that conversation. So, just keep that in mind as well
01:01:35as you look at resolutions and things of that nature. And there's also letters, things of that
01:01:40nature. But when it comes to votes and to resolutions, take a look at that as well.
01:01:46There were five recently that were before the U.S. Senate. You can pull them up as well.
01:01:50Each of them were authored by Senator Bernie Sanders.
01:01:54Senator and Congresswoman, we are at time right now. We're at 7 o'clock.
01:01:58I think that we can take two, try and get three in, but we have to respect the staff and all the
01:02:09rest. I hear that on it. Maybe we just ask them together and then we'll respond and we can vote
01:02:14together. So, we're going to go ahead and pull the last two tickets. Once we call the tickets,
01:02:20if you could please line up in this aisle where I'm standing, and we'll go ahead and we'll ask
01:02:24those two questions together. So, last two questions. Okay. 28764-0204.
01:02:39One more time. 28764-0204.
01:02:47Okay. Next one. And then the next one. 28764-0449.
01:03:07The last four is 0449.
01:03:10All right. Hi, my name is Connor Donato. I'm a student here at Albuquerque. I'm a senior this
01:03:21year. So, my question is, knowing the very real possibility that our efforts here could be in
01:03:28vain, right, that it could pass as much as those could pass like the one that you just talked
01:03:32about, what are we looking forward to in terms of like past midterms and when we can actually get
01:03:36some more legislation to stop like not only just this bill but also other legislative things that
01:03:41this administration has done and other legislative stuff that we've done, right? What are we looking
01:03:46forward to in terms of doing that and what are the actions we're taking right now to ensure
01:03:49that we can indeed pass those future bills, right? What are we looking forward to?
01:03:58Let's take both questions just for efficiency's sake. First of all, I want to thank you
01:04:03immensely, both of you, for all your efforts, for your tireless.
01:04:13My name is Charlotte Perry and I'm with Sandville County Indivisible. And obviously,
01:04:22I see a huge gap in the Democratic Party's preparation for what this gentleman talked
01:04:30about. How are we going to face midterms? How are we going to face the next presidential election?
01:04:37What is missing, what I'm not seeing, is a strategic plan. I think we need a strategic plan
01:04:46with a communication plan and a marketing plan. Republicans are great at marketing. They market
01:04:53lies and misinformation really great. We've got to market our party and this needs to happen
01:05:00at the national level. And I'm just wondering, do either of you or both of you see
01:05:10the value in a plan for success?
01:05:14Let me start with the first question about what comes next after all of this evil malevolence
01:05:28plays out over the next year and a half. And I also think this goes to some of the questions
01:05:33that have been asked tonight that are difficult conversations. And it's really important to
01:05:38understand that right now Democrats do not control the government. In the House of Representatives,
01:05:47it's a winner-take-all situation. Whoever has the majority controls committees, they control
01:05:55what bills go to the floor, they control the budget, they control the votes, they control
01:06:00who serves on what. And so we cannot move legislation right now in the House because
01:06:07the Republicans have a four-seat majority. But imagine that, it's only four seats.
01:06:14That means we only have to win four seats back in the midterms. Now we have a lot of damage control
01:06:21to do between now and the midterms, but the midterms are only 18 months away, which means
01:06:26that to the point that was just made, we got to get our house in order and ready for the 2026
01:06:32elections. So because this is an official space under congressional office and there are rules
01:06:39about how we talk about elections in these spaces, we can't get into a lot of political details here.
01:06:45But what I can tell you is that you are absolutely right. We need a plan. Absolutely. There is no
01:06:52question whatsoever. And I do think that right now we are in this very bizarre moment in between a
01:07:00lost presidential election when we have billionaires dumping money through dark money
01:07:06in politics who are buying elections. We have a candidate on the Republican side who spent his
01:07:14entire life building his career around marketing and his name. And we have a Democratic party that
01:07:21is trying to find its feet again and figure out what we do in the next election cycle.
01:07:28But what I can tell you is that in terms of the platform, what do we build when we get back there?
01:07:34We have to get big money out of politics. We have to restore faith in democracy. We have to pass
01:07:42protections for voting rights. We have to pass banning of stock trading in Congress. We have to
01:07:49stop all sorts of malevolent actions by members of Congress and to clean up our house. We have
01:07:56to pass bipartisan immigration reform. We have to reenter the climate deals in Paris. There are
01:08:03countless things that we have to rebuild. But I do think, and I'm wired for optimism,
01:08:11even in this very dark moment in our history, that because things are so broken right now,
01:08:16and they're not just broken because we have a terrible bad actor in the White House and the
01:08:22people who are following them in Congress, but because many things have already reached a breaking
01:08:27point in our economy, in the post-COVID era, in our democracy, in the influence of big money in
01:08:34politics, we've got to reevaluate when we think about what comes next. But I go back to what I
01:08:42was saying a moment ago. We're in the midst of a crisis right now. And for all of us, it may be
01:08:50hard to realize, but I only have 18 staff. That's it. I'm a member of Congress and I am capped out
01:08:58at 18 staff. And so my staff spend every living moment right now fighting the bad stuff and doing
01:09:06what we can to help our communities while we're trying to imagine what comes next when we're able
01:09:12to take power in the midterms. But we need everyone in our communities to help participate in
01:09:18redefining what the Democratic Party becomes and is in the future. Now, I know this is not going to
01:09:25be a satisfying answer, but what I can tell you is that if you're looking to somebody out there in
01:09:31the ether who's going to lead the Democratic Party out of the wilderness, it's not going to be a
01:09:36person. It's going to be the American people. We will lead ourselves out of the wilderness and the
01:09:42darkness and back into our democratic future. And so we're all going to have to organize on the
01:09:49ground and do everything that we can. But we're doing everything that we can right now to try to
01:09:55organize at the national level. So I know I don't have any easy answers, but you are absolutely
01:10:00correct. We need a plan for what we rebuild and we need a plan for how we're going to get there.
01:10:15United States Representative Malani Sands, America.
01:10:24I guess I would simply add we need to deal with John Lewis, all those students,
01:10:29trouble. Yeah, I think I was absolutely correct in that it's going to take the American people
01:10:35and that push. That has to be the plan. Out of 2017 going into 2018, there was not a political
01:10:45pundit out there that believed that Democrats could win back the majority in the House of
01:10:49Representatives, that believe that checks and balances could be restored in this very young
01:10:53experiment called the Democracy in the United States of America to Defend this Republic.
01:11:01The day after the inauguration back in 2016, one person, one woman went to social media and
01:11:09told a few of her friends, let's go, let's go do something. She went to bed, moved up the next
01:11:15morning, over 10,000 people responded to her. And every day it kept growing and growing and growing
01:11:20to millions and millions of women and few guys across America got together. And it was global.
01:11:28And it wasn't just in our nation's capital. It was state by state, town by town, school by school.
01:11:36It was the people that stood up. Now, we're not seeing that right now.
01:11:42And one thing that needs to happen is earning the trust back in the American people,
01:11:46having real, honest, candid conversations. That has to be part of this plan of restoring voting
01:11:52rights, civil rights, human rights. My grandparents, the way that they raised me,
01:11:57it's a bit of the golden rule. I mean, I don't want to speak with cliché, but
01:12:02whenever I worked on that little farm with my grandfather, my grandfather said, my dad,
01:12:07he would say, just eat things better than you found them. Start there.
01:12:12I like to go outside and take a breath of fresh air, especially when you mentioned this little
01:12:16rain. It smells good. Being able to get some water when you're thirsty, that's all right.
01:12:26You know, a few of you here are my age or maybe a little older.
01:12:33You remember the problem with something called acid rain. Remember that one?
01:12:36Where the stuff coming from the sky was actually poisoning the dirt.
01:12:41Because at the time, the utility companies weren't properly creating energy the right way, right?
01:12:47There's something called knocks and socks. And when the government came forward and said,
01:12:51we're going to put some rules in place to make things better so we can eat things better than
01:12:55we found them, all the utility companies across the country put us out of business. We're all
01:13:00bankrupt. You know what they learned? By doing the right thing, they actually made more money.
01:13:12They did better by cleaning up their act. We can be smart about policy and strengthen America.
01:13:19We've done it before. As the representative said, we can do it again. One of my favorite
01:13:24bumper stickers about something we needed to do. I saw it on fire two weeks ago.
01:13:31Doesn't matter. Why are they trying so hard to take it away?
01:13:40The Native American Voting Rights Act, I make it easier to vote in America,
01:13:44not harder to vote. What does everyone have to be scared of if 100% of the population of Americans
01:13:51vote? What's wrong with that? This young experiment, we all have roles and responsibilities.
01:13:59Some come with titles. Others don't. President Obama reminded us that the most important
01:14:05title was active citizen. That goes to this planet. We showed that we could do this before.
01:14:13The policies that Donald Trump is pushing through the House and the Senate right now,
01:14:23that House Republicans and Senate Republicans are pushing, are worse than the ones that they
01:14:27did in 2017. The American people rejected it. This time, it's worse for Republicans. I'll say why.
01:14:35I'll close with this. I know we have to do a close-up on it. I'll leave the last word to
01:14:40Virginia Sanford. Farmers and ranchers. It's not just these nutrition programs that are hurting
01:14:46farmers and ranchers in American grocery stores, but these tariffs, it's a national sales tax.
01:14:53It's making everything more and more expensive. You all know what we do in the grocery store.
01:14:58You see it. What about the inputs for farmers and ranchers? A lot of constituents call me and say
01:15:03they voted for this president. This is not what they signed up for. They thought he would say it,
01:15:09but he wouldn't do it. Well, he's doing it. House Republicans, Senate Republicans are
01:15:15empowering him, and they're doing it. They don't have the courage to take a vote.
01:15:18I offered a vote on the Senate budget resolution that simply said, leave the nutrition programs
01:15:24alone. You promised you wouldn't take your hands off, and I knew it. I wanted to vote for it.
01:15:31My colleague, Jeff Murphy from Oregon, had an amendment that said, don't touch Medicaid.
01:15:36Three Republicans had the courage to vote with him to say we're going to keep our hands off,
01:15:39but there wasn't a floor. One of my colleagues represents a state where he has more per capita
01:15:45than us in Alaska that depend on this program. What happens to your constituents?
01:15:52I'm telling you, there's a reason why Republicans don't want to have town halls across America.
01:15:58That's right.
01:15:58Why? The guy that's running the campaigns for them told them all, what, about three months
01:16:02old, Melanie? Don't go have town halls. What are you scared of? These are the people you work for.
01:16:09They're your boss. That's right.
01:16:11Whether they agree with your vote or not, you have to go explain it.
01:16:15That's right.
01:16:15That's our role and our responsibility here. I just think there's going to be pushback.
01:16:22And then we need to get ready because that plan is not just to get the gavel.
01:16:26What are we going to do with it? And there better be delivery from the American people
01:16:31or people like my dad and my grandfather who are union workers to make sure we stand.
01:16:36We're going to live by dignity of work. We're going to protect essential programs so that
01:16:41if you get sick, you can go see a doctor. Why is that such a controversial thing?
01:16:48That we can stand up for human rights and make sure that people that are going to be working
01:16:54with the U.S. are going to follow U.S. law. These are all things that we can restore and America
01:16:59can be the beacon again around the world. I'm an optimist as well.
01:17:04And hell, I survived a stroke. I've got something else left.
01:17:13I want to thank y'all for being here. I'm sorry we couldn't get to your questions.
01:17:15I want to make sure we chat. I'll chat outside with you because we want to make sure we can
01:17:19close up and all the staff that are here as well.
01:17:21Well, Representative Sandsbury, thank you again for your leadership
01:17:25or your willingness to speak up.
01:17:31It makes ourselves available and accountable. You all know that,
01:17:34Representative Sandsbury. That's correct.
01:17:40And I'm going to take the last word from our senator. So let me just quote one of my heroes
01:17:46who is Michelle Obama and say if you're trying to figure out what to do right now, just do
01:17:54something. Get involved in politics. Run for office. Make calls. Write letters. Imagine what
01:18:07the policies are that we need to be fighting for because we are all trying to put out this fire
01:18:13right now and we need your creative minds to imagine what the future of this country will be.
01:18:19Stand up and advocate for the things that you care about. Call Republican offices.
01:18:24Protest. Show up in the streets. Do anything and everything you can to support vulnerable
01:18:30people in our communities. Help support organizations that you believe in.
01:18:35And if you have people in your family, in your friend circle who are struggling right now,
01:18:41just reach out to them and support them. These are all actions that all of us can do every day.
01:18:48And I'll just leave you with all of this. I know that it feels like a hopeless and a helpless time,
01:18:54but we are not hopeless and we are not helpless. We are the American people.
01:19:01We will win again and we will take back our democracy and our country.
01:19:07So let's go out there.
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