Groups protest budget cuts, DOGE and Elon Musk in Tucson

By Renee Romo

Published: Feb. 20, 2025 at 6:21 PM MST

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - Several groups protested Thursday morning outside of Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s office in Tucson.

Advocates are concerned over the budget cuts – and how it’ll impact the future of working families.

Meanwhile, the other side believes it’s necessary to balance the budget.

Living United for Change in Arizona and People First Economy got together to advocate against the budget from Republican lawmakers.

Rocky Rivera, LUCHA community organizer for Tucson, explained that will cut $1 trillion from the budget. That is $800 billion from Medicaid and $200 billion from the food assistance program SNAP.

“We don’t think that they should be taking resources that people depend on here, you know just to give somebody a tax break,” Rivera said.

Another message many were trying to get across was their dislike of DOGE and Elon Musk’s involvement in government – which has led to various cuts.

While they were protesting outside Ciscomani’s office, the message was for all Republicans in support of cutting these crucial programs for working-class families.

But Kathleen Winn, Pima County GOP chairman, said they’re trying to get the country back on track - and everyone will be impacted.

“This is going to be across the board,” Winn said. “This isn’t just targeting the working Americans, it’s targeting everybody, and there’s going to be some painful cuts.”

Winn added that the country is taking in $5 trillion a year in taxes but spent $7 trillion – which is why the American people voted for the budget to be balanced.

“The taxpayers have a right to expect that their government does the right things with the dollars that we send in. And there is so much mismanagement and corruption in government,” Winn said. “So, the only way to fix this, is to see where the dollars are going, and cut unnecessary programs.”

However, Rivera said billionaires and corporate donors are the only ones benefiting from this, as they’ll be the ones getting tax breaks.

“We don’t feel that it’s essential that we do more corporate tax cuts,” Rivera said. “You know, we’re already in a big deficit, and the only way to get out of it would be to really increase these taxes I believe, so we believe in taxing those people, we believe in bringing the economy back to the people.”

13 News reached out to Ciscomani’s office but has not heard back.

Read Original Article Here: https://www.kold.com/2025/02/21/groups-protest-budget-cuts-doge-elon-musk-tucson/