PHOENIX, AZ – Ahead of Donald Trump’s Wednesday rally, DNC Chair Tom Perez led Arizona elected officials and community leaders in a roundtable discussion on Trump’s record of broken promises to Arizona families, including his recent proposed budget cuts that would slash funding for Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security programs that Arizonans depend on.

At the Phoenix event, Chair Perez was joined by Arizona Democratic Party Chair Felecia Rotellini, State Representatives Kelli Butler and Raquel Terán, and community advocates Steve Gomez and Ashley Bridwell to blast the Trump administration for the devastating proposed cuts and the impact it will have on Arizonans.

DNC Chair Tom Perez:

“He [Trump] has no plan. Look in his budget, there is no meaningful plan to reduce drug costs. We were proud as Democrats, to stand up for people who are fighting to retain their health care, some of whom are in this room. … What I think folks have illustrated here today is the breadth and depth of the impact of these proposed cuts. … They touch so many lives in so many ways, and to have a president whose number one priority is a tax cut for wealthy people who don’t need it, and now they cry poverty and say ‘we can’t afford these programs,’ those are crocodile tears.”

ADP Chair Felecia Rotellini:

“President Trump’s recent budget proposal is not a proposal, but rather a declaration of war on working families and our most vulnerable.”

State Representative Kelli Butler (LD-28):

“The provisions that President Trump is putting forward are so detrimental to everyone in the state, but particularly the destruction of the Affordable Care Act. … We need to make sure that the protections that are put in place by the Affordable Care Act stay in place. … There’s so much at stake for people, for our economy … If the Trump budget goes in place and funds are cut for our Medicaid system, it’s gonna be devastating. … There’s a lot at stake.”

State Representative Raquel Terán (LD-30):

“When we are talking about Trump’s broken promises, when we are talking about Trump messing with Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, we’re talking about people that live in my district and well across the state. But I know these are the programs that many of my constituents count on for their retirement, count on for their health. … We need to make sure that we put back the faces of the people that would be impacted by all these cuts that are now being presented by the president.”

Steve Gomez, Arizona health care activist:

“Seeing what this budget does and would do to Medicaid would be devastating. … There are millions of families in Arizona and across the nation even more so who are not as fortunate. These cuts to Medicaid, that this budget is proposing would destroy people.”

Ashley Bridwell, Arizona health care activist:

“Day in and day out, I meet with individuals that are not already going to have their needs met because of the restrictions on our current programs. Taking away additional funding is the difference for some people between life and death. And that’s the reality of these policy changes and how they’re going to impact elderly, people with disabilities, people like me, that without the opportunity to have a hand-up, I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish the things that I have in my life, so we have to really do a good job at keeping what we already have — which isn’t enough already — there.”