Representative Pratt, who was chosen to introduce Brewer’s multiple amendments, declined to answer any questions from his colleagues. Leaving his fellow republicans to ask each other if anyone knew what was in Brewer’s bill.
Only moments before taking to the floor were legislators were handed over 600 pages of amendments for their consideration. Conservatives pleaded for any information that Pratt might provide, but they were refused every time.
Still, conservatives maintained civility. Representative J.D. Mesnard “commended the Governor for her performance.” He said, “She has convinced nine Republicans to join her and betray her own caucus to team up with Democrats, who will spend the next year and half beating the snot out of us. I find that appalling. It is a terrible precedent. It is devastating to our Party.” Mesnard said that the conservatives “offered to have a discussion of this outside the budget. They were protecting it by putting it in the budget away from the public for referral to the ballot. They originally wanted to go to the ballot. I certainly would’ve preferred that, but once again I have to congratulate the Governor. I am aggrieved to what she has done to this state.”
Representative Livingston said his “personal believe is after we pass this bill, and the Governor signs it into law, it will go through the court system and it will lose in the courts.” He said that because “we don’t have the two-thirds needed for this” to meet the Prop 108 requirements for passing taxes.
Livingston said that he was “so proud to be a republican standing here tonight because the Republicans standing here tonight discussing this Medicaid expansion believe in free markets. We believe in lower taxes. We believe in smaller government. We believe freedom and liberty for all and these bills cannot do that. I am so proud to be a Republican. I want to thank Speaker Tobin and President Biggs. I am proud to go to the fight every day for these men and women, for these great leaders, and the leaders of the LDs and all the PCs. We stand here tonight fighting this bill because we don’t believe in it. Today we lost a single battle. Tonight when we do the third read and will lose again, but we will stand and fight. If the other side doesn’t understand the bills, if they don’t believe in the bills and remain silent, that’s okay because we will stand up and fight for the people of Arizona.”
Representative Borrelli asked if “anyone is going to stand up and give a defense” for the expansion. Brewer said they saw no reason to hear out the opposition.” Borrelli said that their silence “is just one way to speed up the process. Otherwise we have 25 members asking questions and it would take forever.” But Borrellei said, “We have people from Arizona in the armed forces and they’re serving 24/7, 365 days a year. They are working every holiday.” The former Marine told his colleagues, “I came from a world where honoring courage is a way of life. You’ve heard a lot of good amendments tonight. A lot of really good amendments that could’ve stopped fraud, waste, abuse and were pro-life. When I was serving in the Marine Corps, I was called the baby killer. If that’s not an insult I don’t know what it is, but can we pass pro-abortion amendments here. People trusted you. They put their trust in you and you change the rules all of the time.”
Representative Fann asked Tobin “if there was some way we could go home and get a good night’s rest and try to read the bills and call in JLBC to know what is in the amendments. Tobin told Fann that he understood her frustration but the “answer is no. We must proceed.” Fann then said that she wanted to “apologize to the voters of Arizona for passing budgets in the middle of the night when Arizonans are asleep.” She apologized for this “atrocity.”
“Every time we tried to working with the Governor we were told it’s her way or nothing,” said Representative Allen. “I’m sorry the citizens will have to watch this process happen again. I am saddened because I know I don’t believe our founders or voters believe will believe in a one-tier executive government, and that is what’s happened here today. I’m sad for us.”
Steve Montenegro said he was “completely offended by the treatment of the members of this body, as members of the House of Representatives. The great state of Arizona has been deprived of a budget process. For it to not go through committees, not to have any transparency, not have any discussion, no yielding to any questions. Blatant disregard not only for the system but for each other. I am heartbroken. This budget raises taxes on families; families that are barely getting back on their feet. They’re hardly making ends meet as it is already and we are sending them a bill with this. In the last four years we manage to get the State’s budget under control. We balanced the budget. Now, we slap the people of Arizona in the face. This is not what this state is about. It is not what this country is about. My father told me of the greatness of this country. That’s why my family immigrated here. Where you’re able to discuss different ideas. That is why families come to this country. In other countries if you try to speak about transparency, you die. Tonight we’re moving to that. It is not acceptable. We were sent here to protect to uphold the Constitution of United States, to uphold Arizona’s constitution. This is not what my father has taught me about this great country, about this great state. I can respect you to disagree with me but for you to ignore us, and you choose to ignore us, with great arrogance, and pride, and disrespect, I am offended. I am not smaller than you, we as members are not smaller. We may not have as many votes, but we are equal to you. We deserve answers. The people of Arizona deserve answers. I hope that you reconsider what is happening in the state of Arizona today, and that we never see this dark, dark moment again.”
Representative Kavanagh said, “We know nothing about these bills. We haven’t had an opportunity discuss this with staff members or get input from the public. We can’t even debate with each other. We’ve all been deprived of knowledge. The public thinks, at this time, because of the newspaper reports, that the House of Representatives didn’t engage the Governor. Nothing could be further from the truth. I’ve been involved in negotiations with the Governor in the past, but this session was different and made adjustments. We went through February. We went through March, to April. No movement, no response from the Governor’s office. Not one bill was proposed. Nobody had the guts to put their name to it. This was is not caused by the Legislature. It started from the top. This is what happens when you ram through something Chicago-style and maybe you have to do it Chicago style because it’s Obamacare.”
Representative Barton said she “didn’t want to discuss the motives of the people who brought us to this place, but the actions of the Brewer Caucus.” She said the Legislature “has been held hostage for three days. The rules were canceled. They were suspended. We wouldn’t have been here for three days except the process wasn’t fast enough. Somebody wanted to go to vacation and they wouldn’t give Thursday, Friday, or Monday. It didn’t matter that there were other things to do it had to be done this week. It had to be done right now.”
“I can say this with confidence I didn’t run for office, and I was not elected to expand the size, the scope, and the reach of government,” said Representative Kwasman. “The people who sent me here have asked me to stand up for liberty, and constitutional principles, and a government that lives within its means. They sent me to stand here against he government growing at speeds beyond belief. We are here with the powerful mandate. A powerful mandate to expand freedom. This bill does the opposite. “We may well have lost this battle, but there’s no shame in losing. Not when you stand on principle. Not when you stand for what you believe. I want you to know that at this pivotal point, there were conservatives who stood up and spoke, who did what was hard because it was right. This fight is over, but the fight for freedom is not over.”
Representative Adam Kwasman said later that representatives Dial and Orr were “cackling” in the backroom while hiding from fellow republican’s questions.
One former legislator who watched the entire proceedings said Speaker Tobin “maintained the dignity and decorum of the House as Brewer’s crew worked to make it a farce. They refused to answer questions, they refused to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserved. It was a disgusting display.”
Speaker Tobin was emotional when he stood in opposition. “I tried. I was reasonable. Trying to find a way, but we were just too far apart. I did try to come up with a better plan. This will continue to dump high costs on the private sector and that is the end of the story.”
Not one word was said by Medicaid expansion proponents in support of their legislation.
The third reading of the bill is to commence at 1:00 a.m. The House is expected to pass the expansion package later today.