WASHINGTON – Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) sat down with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Meet the Press yesterday to talk the latest on the ongoing Republican-led government shutdown and Democrats’ fight to keep costs from rising for 24 million Americans, Trump’s illegal and reckless military strikes in the Caribbean, and the president’s ‘main priority’ right now, destroying the East Wing.
Watch the conversation here and read excerpts below:
On Democrats’ fight to prevent health care premiums from doubling for millions of Americans:
“Our focus right now is to keep costs low. You just heard Secretary Bessent and he had this long economics professor explanation about inflation right now. It’s bad out there. If you go to the grocery store, people aren’t buying as much. Food is still high, energy is high, and now we’re going to add health insurance costs on top of that. What we’re asking is for the president take a leadership position, for Mike Johnson to bring back Congress, and let’s work a real compromise. And that compromise will look [like] some type of reform to the ACA. We get that, we understand that. But we need to ensure Americans […] do not see their insurance premiums double overnight. And that’s what’s going to happen unless Republicans work with us to stop that.”
“What I’m focused on right now is trying to keep costs low. Right now, again, everything is just hurting. They talk about the price of rent, it’s not going down, it’s actually staying stable in some areas, but [in] most [areas] it’s going up. We’re seeing auto loans are now largely in default, the largest ever [it’s been] in quite a while. And we’re going to go back and add, again, insurance premiums doubling for 24 million Americans. That is a decision that the Republicans are going to make and then they have to own for the next year. And I’m not quite sure that a lot of Republicans in swing districts understand what they’re about to do.”
On Trump’s illegal military strikes on Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean:
Welker: “The Trump administration insists these strikes are consistent with international law. Do you agree with that?”
Gallego: “No. It’s murder. It’s very simple. If this president feels that they’re doing something illegally, then he should be using the Coast Guard. If this is an act of war, then you use our military and then you come and talk to us first. But this is murder. It’s sanctioned murder that he is doing. And it’s very simple for someone like him to talk about killing people or doing something in the name of war. He’s never actually served. He’s never pulled a trigger. And it’s very dangerous what he’s doing both to our international relations, to our friends down in in South America, and to these men and women that are having to make these calls for a president [who] has zero understanding about the responsibility someone has when it comes to having to make life and death decisions. It’s disgusting what he’s doing.”
On Trump’s “main priority” during the Republican shutdown, demolishing the East Wing to feed his ego:
Welker: “I do want to ask you about something that has gotten a lot of attention nationwide, the destruction of the East Wing of the White House. It was demolished to make space, of course, for President Trump’s ballroom. It’s a move that has sparked some backlash from Democrats, even from some Republicans. […] Would you agree with that that any Democrat who becomes the next president, if and when that were to happen, they should tear down whatever changes Trump makes?”
Gallego: “No, I think to really mess with him, just name it the Barack Obama ballroom and I think that will take care of half the problem. So don’t tear it down. This is a distraction. First of all, he should not have done that. It’s the people’s house. Number two, where is the president? He’s focusing on the ballroom. He’s focused on everything, but he’s not focused on what’s happening right now. Inflation’s still high, people can’t buy what they need to buy, energy is still high. We have tariff wars that are being caused because he feels icky and feels bad about someone talking bad about him in a commercial. And inflation is about to double for 24 million Americans. And that’s what he cares about. This is Marie Antoinette talking about ‘let them eat cake’ while Americans are struggling right now.”
10/27/25