On Tuesday, House Democrats took to the House floor to recognize their invited families with disabilities to push the passage of HB2816, a bill to provide funding for the Department of Economic Security (DES). The agency runs out of funds in May.
The bill from Assistant Minority Leader Nancy Gutierrez appropriates $122.3 million in state general funds and nearly $403 million in developmental disabilities Medicaid expenditure authority funds to the DES for developmental disabilities program expenses.
House Democrats are shenanigating to try and bring forward for a floor vote Assistant Leader Nancy Gutierrez’s HB2816 to provide the supplemental funding to keep the program for developmentally disabled children and adults, and paid parental caregivers. Rather than support a… pic.twitter.com/lJ1VHS0mRC
HB2816 did not make it past introduction. However, that didn’t stop House Democrats from attempting to bypass regular processes to get it heard on the floor on Tuesday.
“Republicans are blocking needed supplemental funds to keep the program going past May,” said Arizona House Democrats.
At the risk of getting gaveled down if she mentions developmental disability funding or her bill to save the families who need it, Assistant Democratic Leader Nancy Gutierrez artfully argues against the Republican countermove to block her motion to bring her HB2816 to a floor… https://t.co/52V2zpnkJ1pic.twitter.com/nsBByuiyHe
House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos accused House Republicans of being against funding children’s disability services.
“Arizona House Republicans just KILLED the bill to fund lifesaving disability services for children with Down syndrome, autism, and other developmental disabilities. All while heartbroken families watched from the gallery,” said De Los Santos.
BREAKING: Arizona House Republicans just KILLED the bill to fund lifesaving disability services for children with Down syndrome, autism, and other developmental disabilities. All while heartbroken families watched from the gallery. pic.twitter.com/dD0BtYCLJA
House Republicans said Governor Katie Hobbs’ mismanagement was to blame for the budget shortfall and constricted timeline. Majority Leader Michael Carbone alleged to ABC15 that Hobbs had stretched disability services beyond their capabilities without the legislature’s consent.
“She expanded the scope and raised rates, all without the consent of the legislature of the necessary funding to meet her policy changes, and it now threatens the viability of the entire program,” said Carbone.
This wouldn’t be the only area of alleged mismanagement by Hobbs. House leaders addressed the pending shutdown of the Department of Child Safety’s Congregate Care program, which Speaker Steve Montenegro attributed to poor budgeting by Hobbs.
“The governor spends beyond her budget. She waits until it fails, and then she declares an emergency. In January, we were told by the governor’s staff that they needed supplemental funding for DCS,” said House Speaker Steve Montenegro in Monday’s press conference.
Hobbs’ spokesman, Christian Slater, said Republican lawmakers were “lying” about the governor’s budget handling. Slater accused Republicans of attempting 50 percent cuts to the Department of Developmental Disabilities.
“Governor Hobbs produced a balanced budget proposal that secures the border, raises pay for State Troopers and firefighters, combats Veterans homelessness and protects Arizonans with autism, cerebral palsy, and Down Syndrome,” said Slater. “Instead of showing Arizonans a budget plan of their own, Republican lawmakers have gone to the press to lie about the Governor’s budget, refused to enter negotiations, and are holding kids in foster care and Arizonans with disabilities hostage to their political games.”
NEW: Republican lawmakers are lying to their constituents instead of negotiating a budget. Today, we called on them to pass the Governor’s budget. And if they don’t like that, then they need to show Arizonans their plan. pic.twitter.com/KhFzrNlMS0
Senator Mark Kelly defended the foreign terrorist sympathizer deported recently by the Trump administration: Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a Lebanese kidney transplant specialist and Brown University professor.
Kelly described Alawieh to constituents as a “talented transplant doctor” and a “lawful H1B visa holder” during a town hall on Monday. Kelly failed to mention Alawieh was deported for attending the funeral of terrorist Hassan Nasrallah — Hezbollah’s late longtime leader — and defending the terrorist to immigration agents. Instead, Kelly alleged her deportation had no justification.
“She was tossed out of the country because she visited some relatives in, I think, Lebanon, or somewhere. So, thrown out without cause, without due process. So we’re up against an administration that does not follow the rules, I think it’s very fair to say, and in some cases breaking laws,” said Kelly.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explained Alawieh was deported for openly admitting her support of Nassrallah to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. Alawieh was in the country as a kidney transplant specialist.
“A visa is a privilege not a right—glorifying and supporting terrorists who kill Americans is grounds for visa issuance to be denied. This is commonsense security,” stated DHS.
Court documents revealed Alawieh had photos supportive of Nasrallah along with Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on her phone. Alawieh’s legal counsel withdrew recently from her case, citing “further diligence” as their cause for dropping her as a client.
“Dr. Alawieh stated that Nasrallah is the leader of Hezbollah and as a Shia Muslim, he is highly regarded in the Shia community as a religious figure,” stated the prosecutors. “According to Dr. Alawieh, she follows him for his religious and spiritual teachings and not his politics.”
Kelly made the remarks during a town hall with fellow Senator Ruben Gallego on Monday.
The pair came home this week to disseminate their Democratic leadership’s talking points criticizing the House Republican-led budget as a threat to Medicaid.
House Republicans’ proposed budget (HCR 14) looks to reduce spending by $880 billion. The House approved the plan last month. In response, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries claimed the budget plan would issue “the largest cut to Medicaid in American history,” since the committee charged by the proposed budget to find cuts, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, mainly oversees Medicaid funding (93 percent of its oversight, per the Congressional Budget Office).
House Republicans contested the Democrats’ claim, arguing the budget plan doesn’t mention Medicaid.
While Kelly admitted the mass cancellations of Medicaid hadn’t occurred yet, he said it was a “high probability.” Kelly said Trump’s “giant tax cut” benefited “millionaires and billionaires” mainly.
“All of this stuff you’re hearing every single day is so they give a big giant tax cut to people who don’t need a tax cut. We can raise the taxes of billionaires, and they will still be billionaires, and that’s what we should be doing, we shouldn’t be cutting these services” said Kelly.
Kelly predicted the Trump administration’s changes to Medicaid and Medicare would include additional red tape that would prevent people from getting on or staying on Medicaid, and possibly cutting the match funding number for states.
With reduced or eliminated Medicaid and Medicare, Kelly predicted people would “get sicker” and come to rely on emergency room visits as their primary form of health care, consequently driving up health care costs. Gallego echoed this assessment.
“You will see these emergency rooms become the primary care doctors,” said Gallego.
“This hasn’t happened yet, and it’s possible we can prevent it from happening,” said Kelly.
Kelly proposed expanding access to Medicaid and Medicare as well as increasing taxes on the wealthy as the remedies for reducing health care costs.
According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Arizona has about 780,000 individuals enrolled in Medicare and over 483,000 enrolled in a prescription drug plan only out of over 1.5 million individuals recorded as Medicare eligible in the state.
“There’s no way they can get to those tax cuts without Medicaid. The math doesn’t math,” said Gallego.
Gallego said he thought Republicans were “dumb enough” to go after Medicaid, but perhaps not Medicare.
“In order for them to cut $850 billion from a very narrow slice, that means they’re going to have to go deep,” said Gallego.
Kelly disagreed, saying Republicans were “dumb enough” to go after Medicare.
Gallego predicted certain working families above the federal poverty line but still within Arizona eligibility levels would be cut from Medicaid.
Gallego and Kelly encouraged a mass grassroots response to oppose the Trump administration.
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The Trump administration announced its plans for continuing construction of Arizona’s border wall over the weekend.
The continuance of the border wall is the latest in a series of efforts underway by the Trump administration to undo the consequences of former President Joe Biden’s open borders policies.
On Sunday, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced the agency’s intent to construct seven miles of border wall where none exists along the Arizona border.
“As of today we’re starting seven new miles of construction,” said Noem. “We’re going to continue to make America safe again.”
Announcing today – we’re building 7 more miles of wall.
Former President Joe Biden all but made good on his campaign promise to not build “another foot” of the border wall during his administration.
The Biden administration sold the parts necessary to complete the border wall in secret. The Pentagon took the profits of the sales.
In January, a federal court ruled against the Biden administration over its efforts to sell off as much of the border wall as possible prior to Trump taking office.
Under Biden, there were over 8.8 million southwest border encounters.
Around the time of Trump’s election last November, border encounters began to drop significantly. Encounters dropped 61 percent from November 2023 to last November, 68 percent from December 2023 to last December, and 65 percent from last January to this January.
During Trump’s first month in office (last month), border encounters dropped significantly further, returning to the low five digits.
Border encounters dropped by 93 percent from the February 2024 total, 92 percent from the February 2023 total, 93 percent from the February 2022 total, and 88 percent from the February 2021 total.
Last week, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released the “CBP Home” mobile application. The free app allows individuals to “self-deport” by notifying the government of their intent to depart the country. It also enables individuals to check border wait times at legal ports of entry, apply for provisional I-94 entry, request an inspection of agriculture or biological products, and submit a travelers manifest for bus operators.
On Monday, Trump issued a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to hasten deportations. The proclamation primarily addressed the foreign terrorist organizations Tren de Aragua, declaring the entity to be “undertaking hostile actions and conducting irregular warfare” against the nation. The proclamation allowed for the immediate apprehension, detention, and removal of terrorist organization members lacking citizenship, while also allowing Noem to apprehend and remove all other illegal immigrants as well.
“As President of the United States and Commander in Chief, it is my solemn duty to protect the American people from the devastating effects of this invasion,” stated the proclamation.
Trump defended his proclamation to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, doubling down on his characterization of Biden’s border crisis as an “invasion” necessitating wartime measures.
“This is a time of war because Biden allowed millions of people, many of them criminals, many of them at the highest level. Other nations empty their jails into the United States,” he said. “It’s an invasion.”
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Congressman Abe Hamadeh convinced U.S. House leadership to ban circulation of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda styled as a newspaper.
China Daily will no longer be distributed at the House, per a Tuesday statement from House Administration Chair, Rep. Bryan Steil, and Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chair, Rep. John Moolenaar.
“We are pleased to announce that China Daily will no longer be circulated by National News to House offices,” said Steil and Moolenaar. “We took action to directly block the Chinese Communist Party from using the halls of the People’s House to spread its propaganda. We appreciate National News’s swift cooperation on this important issue.”
“Chinese propaganda has no place in the halls of Congress. In coming weeks, China Daily will no longer be circulated by National News to House offices,” stated Chairman Steil. “There is no room for foreign influence in the People’s House. I thank Rep. Hamadeh for bringing this issue to the Committee’s attention and I appreciate National News’s swift work on this matter.”
National News included China Daily within the daily bundle of major publications provided to congressional offices, unless a particular office opted out. Per the Committee on House Administration, National News will “wind down and cease distribution” of China Daily at the Capitol.
An end to the circulation of the CCP’s paper within the House was one of Hamadeh’s first priorities upon entering Congress. Hamadeh introduced a resolution to get rid of China Daily and all other CCP-controlled publications last month.
China Daily constitutes a “foreign influence campaign” per Hamadeh’s resolution.
“China Daily is registered as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 and operates as a direct propaganda outlet of the Chinese Communist Party’s Publicity Department,” stated the resolution. “[T]he distribution of foreign propaganda materials within the House of Representatives undermines institutional integrity and enables malign foreign influence operations [and] the presence of Chinese Communist Party-controlled publications in official House facilities legitimizes foreign propaganda efforts[.]”
Hamadeh’s resolution didn’t restrict the private receipt or public research access of those publications by House members and employees, however.
China Daily is an English-language newspaper owned by the CCP’s Central Propaganda Department. It has been registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as a foreign agent since the 1980s.
The paper maintains branch offices for “China Daily USA” in New York City, New York; San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington; and Washington, D.C. It also sponsors an insert, China Watch, for distribution within other American newspapers, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
The editor-in-chief and president of China Daily USA, Tao Ji, has spent his entire career with China Daily and another offshoot, China Daily United Europe (United Kingdom).
Although Hamadeh’s resolution has yet to be adopted, the congressman’s public remarks about his legislation and China Daily spurred action within House leadership.
Shortly after Hamadeh initially introduced his bill to ban China Daily, he declared in an interview with the Epoch Times the publication to be an attempt by an enemy of the U.S. to influence its governance.
“It’s propaganda by a foreign government that’s trying to influence the highest echelons of the United States government, and it’s unacceptable,” said Hamadeh.
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Democratic Congressman Raúl Grijalva passed away from complications with cancer on Thursday morning.
Grijalva was 77 years old at the time of his passing. The representative took up his congressional seat in 2003. This term was promised to be Grijalva’s last, per the congressman.
It appears staff didn’t get the memo about Grijalva’s passing. Hours before Grijalva’s office issued an official statement on X about his passing, Grijalva’s staff published a post criticizing the Trump administration.
The last post on Grijalva’s account prior to the announcement of his passing concerned the mass layoffs essentially halving the Department of Education (ED) workforce. Grijalva’s staff criticized President Donald Trump’s ED cleanup as “reckless,” “selfish,” and “illegal,” claiming students’ aid programs, civil rights protections, and disability supports were jeopardized.
Grijalva’s staff claimed, specifically, the ED firings would deprive 26 million students of critical funding, 12 million students of career and technical education resources, 10 million low-income students of higher education assistance, and 7.5 million Individualized Education Plan (IEP) students of special education services.
These estimates were pulled directly from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the affiliated international union of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization (AFL-CIO). The AFT consists of over 1.3 million members and 3,000 local affiliates nationwide. However, these estimates were not based on ED layoffs but rather a complete abolition of ED — something that has not yet taken place.
The posting raises concerns over who was representing Grijalva’s constituents during his last few years in office after his announced lung cancer diagnosis in 2023 — especially due to the fact Grijalva missed a vast majority of major votes since then.
President Trump’s latest reckless decision to fire thousands of employees at the Department of Education jeopardizes critical student aid programs, weakens protections for students’ civil rights, and undermines essential support for students with disabilities. This move severely…
Not only did Grijalva step down from key leadership positions — he remained absent from Congress for most of this last legislative session and was absent for this session with the exception of the first day (69 out of 71 roll call votes, or about 97 percent of votes). Grijalva didn’t cast a vote on legislation this session, save for his vote for Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for House Speaker at the start.
Grijalva previously defended his lack of voting in remarks to the press because “Republicans are in charge” and his vote wouldn’t matter anyway.
“They’re inconsequential because the Republicans are in charge and it’s the worst performing Congress in decades, if not a hundred years,” said Grijalva.
Although Grijalva’s health was in decline amid his ongoing cancer treatments last summer, Grijalva was among the early few Democratic leaders to call on former President Joe Biden to step down from his reelection bid last year. Grijalva said it was a duty for those unfit to serve to preserve the seat for their party by dropping out of the race.
“If he’s the candidate, I’m going to support him, but I think that this is an opportunity to look elsewhere,” said Grijalva to the press. “What he needs to do is shoulder the responsibility for keeping that seat — and part of that responsibility is to get out of the race.”
These remarks to the media were reported at the time to be a sharp and inexplicable departure from Grijalva’s messaging on social media supporting Biden and criticizing naysayers of Biden’s candidacy just the week prior.
In light of the fact that Grijalva’s staff posted on X under his name hours after he died on Thursday, it seems Grijalva’s staff may have been more in charge of the office for longer than most constituents were aware.
Following the passing of Grijalva, Governor Katie Hobbs issued a proclamation calling for a special primary election to fill the vacancy for Congressional District 7 on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, and a special general election on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.
Federal law (2 U.S.C. § 8) provides that special elections to fill vacancies in the U.S. House of Representatives are held under applicable state laws.
Under A.R.S. § 16-222(B), if the next regular general election is not to be held within six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy, the Governor shall call a special primary election to be held 120 to 133 days after the vacancy and a special general election to be held 70 to 80 days after the special primary election.
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