U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego [D] held a town hall at the Yavapai-Apache Nation on April 17, introduced by Yavapai-Apache Nation Tribal Council Chairwoman Tanya Lewis.
Gallego focused his remarks on health care in Northern Arizona and the importance of Medicare and Medicaid, telling attendees that 33% of the population of Northern Arizona depends on those programs to pay for medical expenses. He said that cuts to these programs would disproportionately affect rural Arizona and personnel retention.
“It’s hard to get specialists out here, it’s hard to get doctors and dentists,” Gallego said, adding that specialists in the area who were laid off would not come back even if funding were to be restored. He also repeated stories he said he had heard of people who lost access to federal social welfare programs having to ration insulin.
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Gallego urged the audience to keep contacting their Congressional representatives, including U.S. Rep. Eli Crane [R-District 1], and said that constituent pressure is “making a difference” in Congress, prompting Republicans to come out against Medicaid cuts.
Gallego also criticized the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which requires individuals registering to vote to provide a passport or birth certificate and allows individuals to sue election officials who register applicants who do not provide such proof, with possible criminal penalties.
The bill passed 220-208 in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 10 and has been transmitted to the U.S. Senate.
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“What this bill would do is disenfranchise thousands and thousands of Americans for something that doesn’t exist,” Gallego said. “This would specifically target two types of people. No. 1, it would make it very difficult for people on tribal reservations to vote depending on what type of IDs they have. No. 2, married women who have not changed their maiden names will be disenfranchised.”
He praised Arizona’s existing election laws and said he would vote against the act.
Following the event, Gallego said another of his priorities would be legislation to increase federal wildfire response.
“It was a really dry winter which means we’re going to have a very fiery summer,” Gallego said. “We have a lot of water settlements that we still haven’t finished. We still have to finish the Colorado River agreements.”
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“We really need you to interact with those Republican senators and get them on board with the American people,” Camp Verde resident Elizabeth Briggs said after the meeting. “They need to get out and be in with the people. They need to really listen.”
