Sickening.
That is what voters across Arizona should feel toward Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature like House Appropriations Chair David Livingston who is looking to anticipated cuts in federal outlays from the Musk/Trump/Vance Administration as a way to cut vital social programs like those who support developmentally disabled children.
Watch this exchange between Livingston and Legislative District (LD) 21 State Representative Stephanie Stahl Hamilton as she asks if cuts to programs that “serve our children” are on the chopping block.
Without any hesitation, he replied, “Yes I am.”
Sickening.
When Hamilton again asked “We will stop serving the children with acute needs,” he replied, “We will reduce the costs that provide that…the state can not afford it.”
This is the same David Livingston who two weeks ago posted this in response to Governor Katie Hobbs’s proposal to cut the Empowerment Scholarship Account budget.
So in David Livingston’s worldview and undoubtedly most of the Republican ranks at the State Legislature, kids with special needs can go to hell and suffer while children with families who reside in the state’s richest zip codes can go to the private school or White Nationalist-Christian indoctrination center of their choice on the public dime by applying for an Empowerment Scholarship Account Private or Home School Voucher without having to touch their trust funds.
Reacting to this gross and sickening attitude toward vulnerable children, Arizona’s leading Democrats at the State Legislature offered their reaction to Livingston’s willingness to throw disabled children over the funding cliff.
Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan commented:
“It is unconscionable that Republicans would line up eager to cut funding for children with disabilities and their families. Democrats have consistently called for fiscal responsibility and a state budget that invests in those who truly need it the most. While Republicans continue to turn a blind eye to wasteful billion-dollar programs like universal ESA vouchers, Democrats will not stay quiet about the harm being done to our state’s most vulnerable populations.”
Democratic House Leader Oscar De Los Santos conveyed:
“Republicans want to defund lifesaving services for children with disabilities and will use Trump’s self-inflicted economic crisis for justification.
They will always find money for tax cuts for their greedy corporate donors and for the ESA voucher scam. But when it comes to medical services for a child with autism, they say we have no money. This isn’t just poor budgeting and bad public policy—it’s moral depravity.
People with disabilities matter. Their futures matter. But the Republican budget plan tells people with disabilities that they aren’t worth the investment. These Republican cuts will endanger the lives of people with disabilities and throw their families into financial ruin.
This is the story of the Republican Party: handouts for the greedy corporations while throwing everyone else under the bus.”
Christian Slater who is one of the leading communications figures in Arizona Governor Katie Hobb’s office offered this:
It is sickening that David Livingston and his band of MAGA “the weak should perish” reactionary extremists should want to balance the budget on the backs of disabled children who can not fend for themselves.
Governor Katie Hobbs needs to come out and say “Not on my watch.”
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Glad I moved from that state. I can’t believe this man. How about we cut funding for the follicle challenged or perhaps those who have been born without a heart. These evil days will pass and the good people will rise and claw out his eyes. Kindly