PHOENIX — At the latest stop of the AFL-CIO’s “It’s Better in a Union” bus tour, AFSCME members called out Reps. David Schweikert and Abe Hamadeh for their votes to pass the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”
This devastating legislation will raise costs on Arizona’s working families and threaten the public services they depend on.
AFSCME Local 3282 President Joshua Capilla, a sanitation worker, criticized the bill.
“As an equipment operator for the City of Peoria’s Sanitation Department, I know a public health crisis when I see one,” said Capilla. “Cuts to public services will put Arizonans in danger. Reps. Schweikert and Hamadeh voted to pass this dangerous legislation knowing full well that these cuts will have deep ripple effects on our local budgets and will put our communities in a fiscal hole that could take years to crawl out of.”
Louisa Pedraza, who spent 30 years as a 911 dispatcher for the City of Phoenix and is now a vice president of AFSCME Retirees Chapter 97, also spoke at the rally.
“For seniors like me who depend on Medicare, this bill is disastrous,” she said. “It will trigger billions in cuts to the program, driving up the costs of prescriptions and forcing many to make the impossible choice between lifesaving drugs and groceries.”
Approximately 360,000 people in Arizona could lose health care because of Schweikert’s and Hamadeh’s vote to cut Medicaid. Hospitals, nursing homes and clinics are already moving to cut services and staff.
About 450,000 Arizonans are at risk of losing food assistance. And all working families will face higher bills for health care, groceries and energy due to funding cuts in the Big Beautiful Bill.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes also stood in solidarity with AFSCME members, vowing to fight alongside them and hold anti-worker lawmakers accountable.
“I’m so proud to be standing with AFSCME, which is getting organized not just in the streets, but in the courts,” Mayes said. “AFSCME is so incredibly important to protecting, fighting for and saving our democracy.”
She added that the One Big Beautiful Bill “shortchanges our schools, our public services, and our future.”
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