Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / In one southern Arizona district, Trump's Beautiful Bill is bringing about DEVASTATION

Transcript

In one southern Arizona district, Trump's Beautiful Bill is bringing about DEVASTATION · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today, the race on our radar is Arizona's 6th district,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: located in the southeast corner of the state. This district
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: is mostly comprised of suburbs outside of Tucson.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: It's more than a quarter Latino.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: And since 2022, it's been represented by the Republican Juan Siscamani.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Here's a look at how the district voted for President,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: House and Senate in the elections of 2024. That's the
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: latest information we have. Trump won it by less than
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: one point, three quarters of a point. Siskamani won it
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: by two and a half points. But the Democrat who
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: ran for Senate that year, Ruben Gallego, won this same
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: district by five points that year. So what does that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: mean for this year? For one, it means that the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: sixth district is truly purple. Voters don't vote straight down
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: the ballot for one party or another. But on the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: other hand, it does mean that Siskamani is a strong
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: candidate because he ran ahead of Donald Trump's performance. The
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Democrat hoping to unseat Siskamani is Joanna Mendoza. Mendoza spent
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: 20 years in the Marines, including as a Marine Corps
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: drill instructor. Her case against Siskamani has revolved around Siskamani's
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: signed into law last year. You'll remember as part of that, SNAP,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: the federal food assistance program, was one of that bill's
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: biggest victims. It slashes 20 percent of SNAP's funding over
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: the next 10 years, and people are already losing their
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: food assistance benefits. Arizona has seen the sharpest decline in
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: SNAP participation in the country.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: 52 percent.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: This year across Arizona, 400,000 fewer people are receiving federal
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: food assistance than last year. I just want you to
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: think about that while we're in this midst of exploding
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: stock markets and massive tax cuts, people who get sick.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Under 10 bucks a meal are having to go without.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Cisco money, for the record, is not running from his
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: vote on the big, beautiful bill. He's highlighting the elimination
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: of tax on tips and overtime, even touring factories in
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the district alongside the House Speaker Mike Johnson and the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Treasury Secretary Scott Besant.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Now, whether voters in this political.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: And economic climate are going to take kindly to that
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: message remains to be seen. MSNOW does rate this one
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: as a toss up. Joining me now is Joanna Mendoza,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the Democratic nominee for Congress in Arizona's 6th District.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: She is a United States Navy and U.S.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Marine veteran who served as a Marine Corps drill instructor
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Joanna, good to see you. Thank you for being with us.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Ali. I'm grateful for the opportunity.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: In a moment, I want to talk to you about
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: that mess that we saw today with Pete Hexeth because
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: of your military involvement. Let's talk about this district in particular.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: You've got very specific reasons why Trump and Republican policies
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: have been damaging to people in your district, whether it's
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: SNAP or the other effects of the big, beautiful bill.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Your opponent is not running away from that for some reason.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, look, I mean, I often start by telling
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: people that, you know, I am a small town girl
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: from a small rural farming community in Arizona called Eloy.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: I grew up in rural poverty.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: And so the vote, the vote that my opponent, Siskamani,
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: took for H.R. 1, and, you know, you talked about
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: the devastation in SNAP. I my family use those programs.
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I'm the proud daughter of farm workers.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: And so they often relied on those programs. And, you know,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: now at the end of the year, we're also going
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: to be faced with Medicaid cuts.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: And that is going to devastate people.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: I think they're they're figuring that maybe about a little
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: over 400000 folks will be impacted by the cuts to Medicaid.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: So he's not running away from his record. Well, I
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: I think he is. I mean, we had another a
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: second debate where we were supposed to face off.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: And he has refused to debate me.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: I mean, he is instead going to be with Speaker
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: Johnson again. And might I add, Ali, that when he
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: was when Secretary Besson and Speaker Johnson were down here
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: the last time, they laid off a thousand people at
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: the Lucid manufacturing plant in Casa Grande. And those jobs
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: are jobs that folks in rural communities like the one
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: I grew up in rely on.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about that.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I just want to ask you about the SNAP thing,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: because to some people who don't, who've never experienced SNAP
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: or food insecurity, it's an abstraction.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: It's very little money.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Right. If this is our problem in society, snap, then
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: there's something wrong with our priorities. We're running a war
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: that's not approved. We've got inflation running up because of
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: that war. If you're a farmer, your fertilizer cost is higher.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Your diesel cost is higher. You've got problems selling your
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: food because we've got counter tariffs from Canada and other places.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: And then you've got rural health care and snap. This
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: is there are ways to pay for people to have
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: their food.
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: Well, look, I mean, here and especially, you know, someone
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: who has experience with food stamps and growing up with
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: food stamps, everybody knew that if you had funny money
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: at the grocery store that you didn't have any. And
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: so people do rely on those programs in a small
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: mom and pop grocery store in my hometown of Eloy. Um,
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: we walked down the baby aisle and baby formula was
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: anywhere between $ 21 and $ 42. Now for a mom who
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: can't nurse her kid, I was that mom, my kid
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: was colicky and I had to buy the most expensive
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: formula because that's the one that he actually was able
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: to keep down. So imagine how moms, parents must be
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: feeling devastation, hopelessness that they're unable to feed their kids. And,
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: you know, Siskamani has done absolutely nothing about it. And
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: he has refused to stand up to this administration, to
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: Trump specifically. I mean, he has voted with Trump 100
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: percent of the time. Meanwhile, every day, hardworking Arizonans are
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: struggling to feed their families, are struggling to pay for gas, rent, utilities.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, the list goes on and on, Ali, and
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: it's absolutely horrible.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: You talk about the price of things.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I want to play for you what he said on
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: September 10th in your debate about inflation.
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: Now, listen, we've been 18 months into this administration trying
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: to get out of the Biden inflation that we had
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: in the last four years before then. And it hasn't
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: happened as fast as we all hoped it would have happened. Nevertheless,
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: we are on that track. The Biden inflation. I mean,
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: this was in September. He said this.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I know.
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: They're trying to blame a previous administration for their failures.
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: I mean, and that is what you see right now
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: from the MAGA Republican Party is that they know that
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: their policies are unpopular and that they're hurting people. Juan
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: Siscomani actually acknowledged that cutting Medicaid would hurt and devastate
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: families in the district. He signed on to a letter
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: with some other Republicans that agreed that it would be devastating.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: And then he turned around and he voted for it anyways.
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: And, you know, people are paying attention. They are they
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: are suffering right now and they know who's in charge.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: And it's not the Biden administration.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you about your military service and
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: what you make of Pete Hegseth today, where he said
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: no more.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: He talked about drag queen shows.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: He used a remarkable slur for transgender service members, said
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: no more diversity quotas, no more gender pronouns, no more
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: identity months, only warrior ethos.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Diversity is not our strength. Tell me a little about this.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: First and foremost, he lacks what we call servant leadership.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: In the Marine Corps, you adopt this policy that if
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: you are privileged enough to lead people, that you have
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: to be responsible and that you put your needs behind,
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: at the end, behind everybody else's.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: They eat first. They get medical care first.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: Everything goes to your troops and those that you have
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: the privilege of leading. And instead of focusing on these
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: culture war issues, they should be focusing on ensuring that
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: our troops who are fighting a war in Iran right
• 7:32
  Speaker 4: now have the food, the resources, everything that they need
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: in order to be successful. I mean, right now, and
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: especially in this district, Ali, it is home to 80,000.
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: Veterans, a couple of military bases. And I have talked.
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: To parents, conservative parents who have kids who are forward deployed,
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: they're pending orders, and they're terrified that their kids are
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: going to come back in a flag-draped coffin.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: And so his focus is absolutely in the wrong direction.
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: This entire administration, I mean, you know, this war has
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: not been approved by Congress, has not been approved by
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: the American people. And it is kids from small rural
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: towns like mine and Eloy, that are enlisting in the
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: military to escape rural poverty because they have no other choices.
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: And they're being sent to a war because a president
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: wants to flex military strength and muscle.
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: And that's not what we're taught.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: We're always taught that you should have, you know, diplomacy
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: first and then military if all other action fails, all
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: other efforts fail than military action. But that's not what
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: we're seeing from this administration or Hegseth.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Hey, it's Rachel.
• 8:41
  Speaker 6: I am so glad to see you at the end
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: of that clip because this is where I get to
• 8:44
  Speaker 6: tell you about a new way to watch all our
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: clips and all of our shows and everything on MS
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: Now on your phone or your tablet or your laptop.
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: You can watch things live or recorded. Plus, you can
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: in our weekly live chats. You can go to ms.now
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: slash membership or just click below.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: Thanks.