'Don't Crush Their American Dream': Mark Kelly Slams SNAP And Medicaid Cuts In Big Beautiful Bill

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In Senate floor remarks on Sunday, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) spoke about federal programs in the Big Beautiful Bill.

Transcript

00:00from Arizona. Mr. President, what are we doing here? Seriously, I'm still waiting for somebody

00:10to tell me how this makes sense. We are debating a budget that gives another round of tax cuts

00:19to billionaires and giant corporations on the backs of everyday Americans. And it also adds

00:31trillions of dollars to our national debt. That doesn't make any sense to me. And it doesn't

00:40make sense to the Arizonans that I've been hearing from in every corner of our state.

00:47If you grew up in a household like mine, where money was tight, you would know that budgets

00:57are about priorities. I can still picture my mom sitting at the kitchen table trying to figure

01:07out which bills to pay. You take the money you have and you put it where it's needed.

01:17This budget clearly tells the American people who President Trump and Republicans in Washington

01:27need help. If you're a billionaire, it says we've got your back. But if you're a parent trying

01:39to provide for your family, a senior in a nursing home or a child who counts on school for your

01:46only hot meal, you're on your own. This isn't about balancing the books. It's about picking winners

01:58and letting everybody else fall behind. And who loses? It's the Americans working two jobs,

02:09raising kids, caring for elderly parents, and just trying to stay afloat. Because if you grew up in a family

02:19like mine, you also know how hard people work to reach their American dream. The promise that if you

02:29work hard, that your kids will get a good public education, you'll be able to put food on the table,

02:35and you'll be able to go to the doctor and stay healthy, and your kids will be able to grow up and

02:42achieve their own American dream. This promise is already getting harder, and it's getting more

02:51expensive. We need to be working together across the aisle to ensure that everyone who works hard can

02:59have a brighter future. But that's not what my Republican colleagues are doing with this bill.

03:09The plan that they are jamming through right now will put the American dream out of reach for more

03:15families. And for what? To hand out more tax breaks to people with more wealth than they could spend

03:26in 10 lifetimes. Now, Mr. President, I've spent the last several months traveling across Arizona.

03:36I've been to our big cities, Phoenix and Tucson. I've been to small towns like Clarkdale and Sierra

03:44Vista talking to Arizonans face to face, listening to their stories, hearing what it would mean to them

03:54if Medicaid, food assistance, and other essential services got cut for them and their families.

04:03And what I've heard is clear. This budget is going to make it harder for them to stay afloat,

04:10let alone get ahead. In Clarksdale, I met a guy named Christian. He's a rural hospital nephrologist.

04:22That's a kidney doctor. And he told me that his patients, many of whom rely on Medicaid for dialysis,

04:29are now considering stopping treatment altogether because they might not be able to afford it.

04:35He said, this is a quote from Christian. He said, financially, none of the patients I serve

04:44can pay out of pocket. It's a choice of either massive debt or death.

04:54That's the reality to many rural communities. Another woman told me about her friend,

04:59a survivor of two car accidents and a spinal injury. Her friend relies on Medicaid to help her deal with

05:09her chronic pain. Without it, meaning Medicaid, she said that her friend might end her life because the pain

05:20is unbearable. She asked me to deliver this message to my colleagues. She said,

05:31this is not a country that can't afford to care for people like her. We can afford to care for everyone

05:42if we change our priorities from giving tax cuts to billionaires to taking care of Americans who are in

05:51pain every day. Mr. President, people across Arizona are pleading with us to get our priorities right.

06:02In Sierra Vista, I hosted a Medicaid town hall, and that's where I met this woman named Tara.

06:09She told us how she was once a single mother and how programs like Medicaid and SNAP helped her raise her

06:18kid and build a stable life. Today, she works a good job. She doesn't rely on these programs anymore.

06:28But here's what she said. She said, I am deeply concerned about the proposed cuts to Medicaid,

06:35SNAP and related programs. I know firsthand that they don't just help families. They're often the only

06:44path to stability.

06:48Just last week, I was in Tucson, where I live, where Gabby and I live, helping distribute school lunches

06:56at a local high school. It's actually the high school that my wife went to.

06:59And I wanted to see firsthand what these summer meal programs mean for Arizona families.

07:09These programs are funded through the United States Department of Agriculture,

07:13and they rely on data from SNAP and Medicaid to identify the children who need them the most.

07:19And I want to see what the most. If this bill passes, a bunch of these kids that I served,

07:26that I think it was last weekend, they won't be eligible for these programs anymore.

07:31It will be harder for them to access school meals, which I think we all know it compromises their academic

07:41performance. That's the real cost of this legislation. It's not numbers on a spreadsheet.

07:48It's hunger. It's illness. It's fear. It's a bunch of folks who work really hard,

08:01doing everything right, and they're still going to get punched in the gut.

08:04And it's not just what I hear in person, Mr. President. My office gets hundreds of letters

08:15and phone calls every week from Arizona. People are scared, and they want us to listen.

08:23I want to share some of their voices. Frank is a veteran on dialysis. He called this week. And he said,

08:35the food bank and my SNAP benefits are the only way I eat right now. I can't work. I'm not old enough to retire.

08:47And I'm dipping into my retirement early just to keep up with my mortgage. Without this help,

08:56I don't know what I will do.

09:00Mr. President, veterans should never have to say those words in this country.

09:05One of the most sacred promises we make to the men and women who serve

09:09is that we will take care of them when they return home.

09:12That promise doesn't end when they hang up the uniform. It includes making sure

09:22that they can afford food, access health care, and live with some dignity.

09:31And yet, here's Frank, sick, struggling,

09:37and wondering how he'll survive because the programs he relies on are under threat.

09:49Cheryl from Tucson, who is a 59-year-old widow, said,

09:54she said, I receive disabled widow's benefits, Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP. Get this. She said,

10:07my rent and utilities eat all but about $300 of my monthly income. SNAP and my health care card

10:19used to cover most of my food costs. I used to have about $40 left left over to buy some extra groceries

10:29for the unsheltered in my area. So here's a woman with $40 extra and she's helping other people.

10:36She also says, now, buying food for my household takes all of it. I'm scared. If I lose even one of these benefits,

10:51I'll lose the grip that keeps the roof over my head.

10:57Karen from Scottsdale has worked for over 25 years helping veterans and people with disabilities.

11:04She wrote, many of the people I work with rely on Medicaid because they can only work part-time

11:13or because their employers don't offer benefits. Cutting them off will just make health care more

11:21expensive for everyone. The rich do not need an extension on tax cuts at the expense of low-income

11:31and middle-class families. Mr. President, these are my constituents.

11:39These are folks who, unprompted, took time to write or call their senator.

11:46And every single one of them, Mr. President, is saying the same thing.

11:50We're barely holding on and we're scared this is going to put us over the edge.

12:00Now, I wish I could say that these stories were met with compassion by everybody here.

12:06But instead, one of my Republican colleagues apparently said, this is a quote,

12:10quote, they'll get over it. And another, when asked whether cutting Medicaid would cost lives, said,

12:20well, we're all going to die anyway. Now, I didn't come here to throw jabs.

12:27I'm repeating those words because they reveal how this budget was written without any connection

12:38to the real-world consequences. This isn't about politics. It's about people.

12:46So I ask again, what are we doing here? Who do we serve? Is it people like Tara and Cheryl and Crystal

12:58and Frank who are working hard and doing everything right to just try to get by? Or is it a bunch of

13:07billionaires who've already made it and who don't need another handout?

13:12If my colleagues don't believe me, I urge them to go read some of the emails and listen to some of the

13:22phone calls that they're getting. Maybe hold a town hall. Listen to those folks. Really,

13:32listen to what they are saying. Don't crush their American dream.

13:38Don't rig the system even more against them. Don't take a vote just because it's easy.

13:51We can do better for the people we serve. Mr. President, they deserve that from us.

13:58Mr. President, they deserve that from us. Thank you, and I yield the floor.

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