Arizona House Democrats Celebrate Passage of the American Rescue Act

Racquel Teran, the chairperson of the Arizona Democratic Party hosted an event with all of the Grand Canyon State’s Congressional House Democrats to celebrate the passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.

Chairperson Teran (also a State Representative from Legislative District 30) started the event by asking attendees for a moment of silence to honor the memories of the victims of mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia and Boulder, Georgia. She said afterward that “Arizonans are in solidarity with those who lost loved ones.”

Pivoting to the discussion of the American Rescue Plan, Chairperson Teran thanked the Arizona House Democrats for their efforts in passing the legislation that “provided much-needed relief to working Arizonans.”

She concluded her opening comments by saying “this is what happened when we elect Democrats. Relief was delivered by Democrats and it is for everyone.”

The Arizona House Democrats then took turns celebrating the passage of the American Rescue Plan and highlighted specific features of the legislation designed as Representative Grijalva said “significant investments in economy and quality of life for our communities especially in combatting the Coronavirus.” This included:

• Seven billion in state and local relief for Arizona.
• Increases in vaccination supply and distribution, especially to rural areas.
• Aid to schools.
• 87 percent of Arizona adults and 88 percent of Grand Canyon State children will get $1400.
• 1.5 million children in Arizona will be lifted out of poverty through increases in child and child care tax credits.
• 381,000 Arizona adults will be lifted out of poverty through the increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit.
• Assistance to tribal nations, rural areas, communities of color, and small businesses like mom and pops and restuarants.
• A holistic approach to restarting the American economy (small businesses and personal pocketbooks.)
• Retention of essential personnel in their jobs like law enforcement.
• Money for homeless veterans.
• Subsidies to make people’s health care insurance.
• Retrofit schools so they could combat future pandemics.
• Helps the bottom percentile of the people of the country as opposed to the Trump tax cuts which went to the top earners.

Grijalva, Gallego, O’Halleran, and Stanton took time to praise Representative Kirkpatrick for her service in Congress. The Congressional District Two Democrat has announced her intention not to run for reelection in 2022.

Representative Kirkpatrick praised the legislation by saying “help is on the way” and reminded Arizonans that it was still necessary to employ pandemic social mitigation measures like wearing masks, social distancing, and washing hands.

Representative Grijalva expressed regret that the final version of the American Rescue Plan did not include a  $15 minimum wage and the higher unemployment payments the House bill contained, saying “they were significant but the reality of what was happening in the community had to be dealt with so I voted for the final version.”

Representative Gallego reminded listeners that the majority of the American People, including a significant number of Republicans, supported the American Rescue Plan.

Representative O’Halleran commented that the legislation is the most important measure for Rural America in a long time.

Representative Stanton, in what seemed like, a preview of what he might say as a 2022 Gubernatorial Candidate, told the audience that Arizona ranks sixth in terms of the assistance it is receiving from the American Rescue Plan. Calling his Democratic colleagues teammates, he condemned Governor Ducey and Republicans for not supporting this legislation, noting Democrats put partisanship aside in the first COVID 19 relief measures. He also said Congress has a responsibility to secure voting rights to counter the voter suppression proposals in state legislatures across the country including Arizona.

Most of the Representatives hailed the fact that the funds could not go toward tax cuts and pension bailouts.

State Democratic Leaders Representative Reginald Bolding and Senator Martin Quezada joined the event at the end and pledged to work to ensure that the three billion dollars the state government has direct jurisdiction over will be allocated toward those segments of the Arizona population (helping those with food insecurity, aiding the homeless, and closing the learning gap) most in need.

Perhaps later the Arizona Democratic Party will host similar events after legislation in infrastructure, securing voting rights, immigration reform, and sensible gun control passes.