Rep. Adelita Grijalva called fellow House member Juan Ciscomani "just another MAGA rubber stamp," as she railed against the upcoming rise in health care costs for Arizonans who use Obamacare during a town hall Sunday on Tucson's south side.
The town hall, which included Rep. Greg Stanton, a fellow Arizona Democrat, was held within the area represented by Ciscomani, southern Arizona's 6th Congressional District, and the Republican congressman was often the target of critcism.
Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz.
At a similar event for U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly Friday, Grijalva told a crowd of dozens that Trump and Republican lawmakers "have had 15 years" to fix a broken health care system, but have had no interest in doing so. The comments come as vote to extend COVID-era tax credits that help lower the cost of health care for millions of Americans is set to occur later this week.
"Let's be clear about what (the Big Beautiful Bill) means for Arizona: massive tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations, paid for by slashing Medicaid and imposing the largest cut to SNAP in the program's history. So, our most vulnerable populations are carrying the tax burden for those who are not contributing at all," Grijalva said. "Republicans have refused to extend the ACA premiums assistance, to prevent health care costs from skyrocketing.
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"Southern Arizonans deserve better. We deserve leaders that put families first, not wealthy donors, not special interests and not a former president who treats working people as collateral damage in his political fights," Grijalva said, referring to Ciscomani.
Stanton, whose district includes Tempe and parts of Phoenix, Mesa and Chandler, said people tell him they are working harder than ever but are only "falling further behind."
"Costs rising, wages stuck, health care falling out of reach, families squeezed until the rich cash in — that is not random. It is Trump's economic blueprint," said Stanton, the former mayor of Phoenix. "One of the people complicit in this chaos and corruption is right here in southern Arizona: Congressman Juan Ciscomani.
"(Ciscomani) has mastered the con artist routine. Before a big vote, he sends letters of concern, he puts on a show like he's pushing back, he may even appear with a Democrat here and there, but when the vote comes, he folds faster than a cheap law chair," Stanton said.
Sunday's town hall was primarily about the rising costs Arizonans, and many across the country face, with the potential for health care premiums to skyrocket as subsidies could be going away starting next year, as well as the impacts people feel from a sweeping tariff policy set by the Trump administration using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Democrats who agreed to reopen the government in November did so in exchange for a vote this month to potentially extend the COVID-era Affordable Care Act tax credits, which help millions of Americans pay for their health coverage. That vote is expected, tentatively, to happen on Thursday. If those tax credits expire, annual out-of-pocket premiums are estimated to increase by 114%, or a little over $1,000 on average, the Associated Press has reported.
And with the midterms less than a year away, the two representatives took many shots at Ciscomani, as their hope of a flip in Congress to a Democratic majority includes a seat change in his district.
Speaking with reporters after the event, Grijalva said she doesn't have confidence that Ciscomani will vote for the ACA credit-extension, because "he's not going to do anything that Trump doesn't tell him he can do."
"Same as with the Epstein files," said Grijalva, who was the decisive 218th-vote that forced a vote to release the files related to Jeffrey Epstein. "The only reason (the Epstein Files Transparency Act) passed the way it did is because Trump endorsed it, otherwise it wouldn't have happened."

