ICYMI: Kelly Speaks with Arizona Community Health Centers about Protecting Affordable, Accessible Health Care

In case you missed it, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly joined the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers (AACHC) for a conversation in celebration of National Health Center Week. He discussed the essential role community health centers play in keeping Arizonans healthy in the face of harmful cuts to Medicaid and SNAP included in Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."

Sen. Kelly speaks to members of the Arizona Alliance for Community Health Centers.

Watch the full conversation here. See key excerpts below:

On why community health centers are more critical than ever after Republican passed cuts to Medicaid…

"In the richest country in the world, and at the richest time for this country, hardworking people should be able to take their kids to a doctor, they should be able to get a prescription medication and get preventive care before a manageable health problem becomes a crisis. That's what community health centers do every day.

"Over the past year and a half, as we work to fight against cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that were included in Donald Trump's bill-I don't like calling it the 'Big, Beautiful Bill-I asked Arizonans to share with me what those cuts would mean to them and their families. I traveled all over the state, and I heard from kids, I heard from parents, and seniors who told me some heartbreaking stories about the impact that these cuts had on them and had on their lives. And I took these stories back to Washington and shared them on the Senate floor and I talked with my Republican and Democratic colleagues about the people I met because I wanted them to understand that this wasn't about a budget line, it was about real people.

"We put up a pretty good fight, but as everyone knows, my Republican colleagues, they passed these cuts in the biggest tax break for billionaires I've ever seen, and this tax break for billionaires were on the backs of hardworking Americans."

On the impact of Republican cuts on rural hospitals and maternity care…

"I worry about the impact these Medicaid cuts are going to have-not only on community health centers, on hospitals that have specialized services. I've heard from hospital CEOs how they might have to get rid of their OB/GYN clinic in a rural area. What are the options that these women have? It's like drive three hours for delivery, that might work in some cases but not for pregnancies that are not going right.

"Millions of Americans are about to lose their health care safety net and food benefits at the same time. It's because Donald Trump and Republicans in the House and the Senate wanted to give a big tax cut-70 percent of it goes to millionaires and billionaires. That's why this happened. They prioritized a handful of rich people over millions of Americans that were having a hard time affording their lives, it's wrong."