WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) joined Senate Democratic leaders’ State of the Union press conference ahead of President Trump’s address today.

Read Senator Gallego’s remarks below:

“What we’re going to hear tonight is very simple. This president has made this country sicker and poorer. And if you look at every way that has occurred, it has been deliberate.

“Number one, what did this president do as soon as he got in? He went right after Medicaid and started cutting the most vulnerable people in this country.

“And I’m not talking just people in our urban areas. Rural Arizona — I traveled through rural Arizona, and I was talking to some of our hospital systems because they’re worried about how they’re going to keep their systems open. They know now that this administration has abandoned them and they’re going to have to make some really hard decisions. Will they keep their OB ward open? Will they keep their X-ray machines open? Will they have to shut down the emergency room? Why? Because this president wanted to make sure they had enough money to give the richest of the rich a tax cut.  

“And what was left over of that they used to supercharge this massive deportation policy that is racially profiling people, pulling over Americans, violating their fourth amendment rights, and killing Americans in the streets. That is what this president started with.  

“Let’s move forward. How much sicker can you get? We all had an agreement, we all said yes, health care costs are expensive. We all understand that things can be better. The last thing we should do is pull the rug out from millions of Americans that rely on these health care subsidies.

“Now we have millions of Americans are making a hard choice between shall I buy health insurance for my family or shall I just risk it and keep going. That president and these Republicans made that choice. There are millions of Americans right now that are suffering. Either having to pay more and now they’re poor or they’re not getting health insurance and now they’re sicker. That was a decision by this administration. And every day they are making a decision that makes things harder and harder.  

“We all talk about grocery prices. Let me tell you about grocery prices. I have three kids all under the age of 10. I have to feed those kids, and it is expensive. Thank God I get a good salary. But I cannot imagine how someone like my mom raising four kids on her own can deal with these grocery prices every day.  

“And then this president just treats the tariffs as if it’s his little toy that he can [use to] manipulate his friends, bring down some bribes for the corruption that he keeps on doing, and everyday Americans are paying for it. And guess what? The Supreme Court just said you can’t do it. Where is the refund that’s going to come for these Americans? The average American paid $1,000 to $1,200 last year because of these tariffs. Are they getting the refund? No. The big corporations are going to get it, they’re going to get it. But where is that family going to get that relief? It’s not coming.

“It’s not coming because this president does not care about working-class people at all, and he is going to continue to make us sicker and poorer. And that’s just what you’re going to hear tonight.”