Hobbs, Sundareshan, and De Los Santos Say MAGA Republicans Betray Families in Budget Negotiation/Prop 123 Impasse

Governor Katie Hobbs is furious that Arizona Legislative MAGA Republicans are stubbornly clinging to unpopular positions like:

• Unneeded tax cuts for billionaires
• Sticking it to teacher unions and families on food stamps
• Putting corporate interests over consumer and environmental concerns
• Discrimination against LGBTQ school children
• An aversion to reforming the Empowerment Scholarship Account Welfare/Scam for the Wealthy and Reactionary Indoctrinated Private School Voucher Program
• Reluctance to negotiate in good faith on the renewal of the pro-public education Proposition 123.

Hobbs authorized her Communications Director, Christian Slater, to release the below statement:

“Legislative Republicans are holding teachers, students, and parents hostage to their partisan agenda by refusing to discuss Prop 123 proposals in budget negotiations. Public education funding should be a bipartisan issue. Governor Ducey understood that when he originally championed Prop 123, but legislative Republicans have refused to follow his example, instead putting partisan politics over educating Arizona children.

“Over the past two months, they have shown themselves to be unserious and unwilling to negotiate in good faith on the major challenges facing Arizona families. They have flatly refused to consider a Prop 123 ballot referral measure, and they refuse to show the Governor’s Office how they plan to responsibly pay for their proposed tax cuts for billionaires and special interests. Their bad-faith negotiating strategy is the height of reckless and irresponsible partisan politics.

“Governor Hobbs has put forward a balanced budget that lowers costs, invests over $1.5 billion in public education and cuts taxes for the middle class while ending tax breaks for data centers. Republicans refuse to show the Governor’s Office and the people of Arizona their budget proposal because they know it’s unbalanced, unserious, and puts billionaires and special interests ahead of everyday working families. Legislative Republicans must come clean with the people of Arizona and stop hiding their partisan and unbalanced budget from public scrutiny.”

Republicans betray Arizona families

Joining Governor Hobbs, Democratic Legislative Leaders Senator Priya Sundareshan and Representative Oscar De Los Santos released a joint statement expressing their frustration with the Republicans’ current stand in the budget process, writing:

“Time and time again, Republican leaders say they’re ready to negotiate a budget that helps every Arizonan succeed and build a better future. But actions speak louder than words, and they have walked away from the table, apparently willing to betray the vast majority of Arizona families who choose public schools. What that renewal looks like can and should evolve through negotiations, but refusing to even consider it makes clear that, for some, ‘negotiation’ is nothing more than political theater.

Arizona Legislative Democrats have been clear about our priorities. Renewing Prop. 123 is about supporting hundreds of thousands of students in critically underfunded public schools, preventing school closures, supporting educators, and ending the cycle of temporary budget fixes as the original measure expires.

At the same time, Republicans must recognize the need for real accountability and transparency in their runaway ESA entitlement program. We are ready to work across the aisle to protect taxpayer dollars and put an end to wasteful spending on luxury purchases like lingerie, diamond rings, and overseas vacations.

We remain ready to negotiate in good faith. But real negotiation requires both sides to show up, listen, and be willing to compromise. Let’s stop the political theater and get to work. Arizonans are counting on us, and they deserve better. We are ready to deliver An Arizona We Can Afford.”

Voters need to pay attention to what is happening at the State Capitol because it will affect how much they pay in utilities and for groceries. It will also affect their child’s education.

They need to pay attention to these issues and where the people who want to be Governor and in the next Legislature after the next election stand on them.

Suffice it to say, the candidates who put funding public school education over a system that allows people to buy condoms and lingerie and claim it as a valid private school expense are probably the people you want promoting your interests in the Governor’s office and State Legislature.