• Kimberly Kalil, Arizona Daily Star

Senator Mark Kelly (D) speaks at a town hall in Tucson Friday afternoon. The focus of the town hall was the proposed cuts to Medicaid and the impact that would have on Arizona. Video by Kimberly Kalil, Arizona Daily Star.

President Trump, Elon Musk and the Republican-led Congress are targeting the healthcare of Arizonans to help cover the cost of more tax cuts for corporations and the nation’s wealthiest residents, Sen. Mark Kelly told a Tucson crowd Friday.

At a town hall at the Pima Community College district office in midtown to discuss potential cuts to health care, Kelly told a crowd of about 100 people that Trump and Republican lawmakers are beginning to “sharpen the pencil” to figure out how to make cuts to Medicaid.

“This administration is coming after a bunch of different people. They’re coming after families, they’re coming after veterans ... but they’re also coming after your health care,” Kelly said.

He said the Trump administration wants to “double down” on 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire soon.

“(Trump) wants to extend those tax cuts, and I think it’s fair to say, even add a little bit more to it. What that would do to the deficit and debt is add about $6 trillion,” Kelly said. But in order to “make it not look so bad,” he says Trump, Musk and actions through the Republican-led Congress are trying to shave that cost down to about $4 trillion.

In February, House Republicans passed a budget resolution that called on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which handles healthcare spending such as Medicaid, to make $880 billion in cuts over the next decade, according to the AP.

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, right, talks with Kim Cartwright Friday after hosting a town hall on healthcare at the district office of Pima Community College in midtown Tucson.

Kelly, on Friday, said that he and fellow Democrats will have to work to change the minds of a handful of Republican senators over the next few months to try to cut into their majority. While it’s “rather likely” they’ll toe the party line, Kelly said it’s inevitable. He recalled John McCain’s 2017 vote that “saved” the Affordable Care Act.

Constituents will have to mobilize, Kelly said.

“There is strength in numbers ... Your congressman, whether you might not be able to get a one-on-one meeting, but if you’re calling, if you’re knocking on the door, if you’re standing out in front of their office, they know you’re there,” he said. “Believe me, it all adds up when you consider the number of people that will actually do that is generally relatively small.”

Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, middle, listens as an audience member talks about their health worries during a town hall on healthcare held Friday in midtown Tucson.

He said constituents should contact his office, as well as those of Reps. Juan Ciscomani and David Schweikert, to have an impact.

Kelly, on the likelihood of clawing back votes from Republican senators, later told reporters that he believes Democrats have the opportunity to persuade their Republican counterparts, even those facing party-led primaries if they don’t support Trump.

“I’m not incredibly confident that we can convince them enough, we have to convince four Republicans in the Senate, it’s unclear what the numbers exactly need to be in the House,” he said. “(Republicans) are going to have to balance doing what’s right, or doing what they might decide is the best thing for their career, and that’s something they have to live with.”

Chad Duras becomes emotional during a town hall Friday in Tucson as he discusses his multiple sclerosis diagnosis, and how cuts to Medicaid would affect him.

Chad Durns, 37, who has lived in Tucson most of his life, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2021. He told Kelly he tried to work, but his condition held him back. And while he is supported by his family, Durns, fighting back tears, said without Medicaid coverage, the cost for his treatment would be “devastating.”

States and the federal government jointly pay for Medicaid coverage provided to about 80 million Americans, including millions of children. About 2 million people, or about 1 in 4 Arizonans, are enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program, known here as the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS.

Rita Perezabreu, 58, of Nogales, went to the town hall Friday with her coordinator to represent Mariposa Community Health Center. Legally blind and diagnosed with other chronic diseases, Perezabreu said that despite the uncertainty at the federal level, nobody can “just sit here and wait.”

Rita Perezabreu, from Nogales, talks to Arizona Senator Mark Kelly during a town hall Friday in Tucson.

“We’re trying to find something so that we can be heard. We have a voice for ourselves that we can say we are valued. Yes, we’re different, but we’re capable ... to work together as a community, as citizens,” Perezabreu said.

“I feel that we can do this, and we can get heard by our community and by anyone in the state. I believe that.”

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