PHOENIX - Even as Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., cast the crucial 50th vote to open debate on the GOP health plan, groups in Arizona continued their own plans for big pro-Affordable Care Act rallies in Tucson tonight and in Tucson, Flagstaff and Phoenix on Saturday.
The events are part of a nationwide day of action organized by the group "Our Lives on the Line." Spokesperson Emma Shapiro said rallies are planned in 125 cities in almost 40 states.
"It has never been more important to show our leaders that we're going to hold them accountable if they vote to take away health care from millions of working families," she said. "We will be out across the country, and we will be loud. Our families will not give up our health care to give tax cuts to the wealthy."
The rallies have more than 60 partner groups, including Organizing for America, the Women's March, the Tax March, the Science March, Planned Parenthood, plus multiple LGBTQ and environmental groups. The Phoenix event is to take place at 11 a.m. at the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS. Details are online at ourlivesontheline.org.
Shapiro said the point of the rallies is to lift up the voices of people whose lives will be hurt by the repeal and those who have benefited from the ACA. She added that senators such as McCain and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who both voted to open debate, should think twice before voting for a repeal.
"Instead of heeding the calls of their constituents to oppose this disastrous plan to take away health care," she said, "Republicans in the House and the Senate have been working on pushing through a plan that will really only benefit million- and billionaires and corporations."
The rallies also kick off a bus tour called the "Drive For Our Lives." It starts in Los Angeles on Saturday and stops in Phoenix on Aug. 4 and in Tucson on Aug. 5, and ends up in Washington, D.C., in September. The bus will carry progressive leaders from many groups to speak out at each stop against the GOP health-care plans.
