- Well, they shouldn't be in their states,
they should be in DC trying to solve this problem
and working in a bipartisan way
to try to come together to provide some much needed relief.
We had 500,000 Arizonans lose their jobs
through no fault of their own.
And so many of them now are trying to get by in $240
of state unemployment insurance payments every week.
That's not enough to get by.
I've spoken to Arizonans across the state
having to make these horrible decisions,
whether or not to pay their rent
or buy groceries for the week.
And these are impossible choices.
And it's up to the federal government
to step up and come to an agreement.
And I encourage members of Congress to do this soon,
because as you mentioned,
we potentially could have an eviction crisis here
if there isn't relief here in the near term.
- The pandemic has really shed light on some issues.
One of them is education, the digital divide
which we know runs deep here in Arizona.
There are also school districts that are having a hard time
actually connecting with families,
they haven't been able to make contact.
What do you suppose is the recourse for making this right?
I mean, what would you do if you were senator?
- Well, it's unfortunate we're in this situation.
I mean, we have a public health crisis
spurred an economic crisis.
We have a education crisis right now as well
and all this has been made worse by crisis of leadership.
I've spoken to educators across the state
And I was speaking to president Zah of Navajo nation
a couple months ago, and he was highlighting
because of the inequities there, how challenging it is
for kids to get an education.
And I really feel for parents and students and educators.
I think it's incredibly important that again,
the federal government step in here
and help cities and towns and school districts
across the state
to make sure they can put the protections in place
and then let the school districts make
fact-based and science-based decisions.
They should be working with public health officials
to come up with , you know, programs that work right now
so our kids can continue to get an education.
I mean, here in the state, I mean, this is, you know,
besides the pandemic we're dealing with,
we often haven't valued education where we need to.
If elected to the United States Senate,
I'm gonna make education a priority.
And we're at 45th in per for teachers spending
47th in per pupil spending.
That's not a good investment in our future.
- Let's talk about healthcare.
I know it's one of your signature platform items,
but more importantly here in the state of Arizona,
there's one report that says the state is behind
about 500 physicians.
How do you make that right, if you are a US senator?
- So we have in our country the same number
of residency programs as we had in the 1980s
with a much larger population.
And some of this funding, a substantial amount of it
comes from the federal government.
And it's not a surprise
we have a shortage of 500 physicians.
These shortages occur across the country
because we're trying to treat and care for more individuals
with the same number of doctors.
So again, it's up to the federal government to step in
and work on this issue in a bipartisan way.
But the issues that I hear about with regards to healthcare
as I've traveled across the state and I've lately, you know,
doing this via zoom
is that folks are worried about losing
their health insurance if they have
a pre-existing condition.
They're worried about the price of prescription drugs,
I mean, seniors have to pay way too much.
I've heard seniors telling me
the price of their prescription drugs went up 300% in a year
with no explanation as to why and no way to pay for it.
And I think we know why
it's because Congress won't act on this issue.
And
we currently have about 2.8 million Arizonans
with a pre-existing condition.
A million of them could lose their health insurance
if the affordable care act was to go away.
That's not fair to our state and you know, I hope Congress,
you know doesn't put us in a position
where this actually happens.
- Let's shift gears and talk about border.
In some areas, the 18 foot wall has gone up to 30 feet.
As we know it's near sovereign land
and environmental waivers have been waived.
It's been criticized as not necessary, it's moving too fast.
What do you say?
- Well the federal government has failed our state
and other border states on the issue of border security
for decades.
We've spent hundreds of billions of dollars since the 1980s.
And what do we have for it? We still have the same problem.
So Washington's been failing on this.
Hey, I served at NASA for 15 years.
If you were to ask our space agency
to work on the issue of border security,
which is incredibly important,
they wouldn't give you that 17th century solution
that you mentioned for a 21st century problem.
It would be apply the right technology in the right area
after studying the problem.
We clearly need more border patrol agents on the border.
Our ports of entry on our Southern border are so important
for our state, it's important for our economy.
Some of them haven't been upgraded in decades, many decades,
and it's not good for our state.
We need to invest in those ports of entry.
I also think, you know, immigration reform,
which we very much so need,
you know, first starts with having a strong border
and border security.
We're not getting the assistance we need
from the federal government right now.
- And finally next week,
we will see you debate your opponent, Martha McSally.
What do you hope the voters get out of the platform
that you'll be given?
- Well, there are so many important issues
that Arizonans are worried about right now.
I mean this public health crisis that nobody saw coming.
I mean, once in a century,
the way the federal government has approached it
and handled it, I think that's a very important topic
to be discussed during this debate.
Issues about healthcare and education.
Some of the things we talked about, the economy,
unemployment, border security,
these are very important issues.
So what I want Arizonans to get out of it is just to see
where we stand on these issues.
'Cause ultimately that's what really matters.
To see you know, are there things we can agree upon?
If elected to the United States Senate, you know,
my goal is to work with Republicans and Democrats
to get things done that'll benefit Arizonans.
I don't wanna be a Democrat senator or a Republican Senator.
I would wanna be an Arizona senator
focus on solving these hard problems.
So I think it will be good where folks see
that we can agree on things
and also good to see the contrasts out there
and what my approach in the US Senate would be
compared to Senator McSally.
- Mr. Kelly, thanks for being with us today.
- Lorraine, thank you for having me on your show.