EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — In an exclusive interview with KTSM, U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, discussed recent actions by the Trump administration regarding federal budget cuts, immigration at the border, and more.
Just last month KTSM spoke exclusively with El Paso’s other congressional representative, U.S. Representative Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, about similar issues.
Out of the array of topics, Escobar said the most pressing issue to El Pasoans is the threat of federal funding cuts to Medicaid.
“If you are a senior, if you have a disability or have a loved one with a disability, if you have children, it is very, very highly likely that Medicaid helps provide your health care. And that health care doesn’t just mean direct health care to people, it also means jobs. It means funding for hospitals and for clinics. It means that (cuts to Medicaid) will put a severe strain on those institutions, those health care institutions, to be able to deliver services to people,” Escobar said.
Escobar, like her Republican counterpart Tony Gonzales, is concerned the Trump administration’s proposed federal funding cuts could eventually reduce funding for Medicaid.
These concerns have arisen due to the Trump administration’s promise to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in federal government spending. A task it has bestowed upon billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) he oversees.
DOGE has already carried out layoffs of thousands of federal employees, rolled back on government grants and programs, and much more with that goal in mind.
While President Donald Trump has communicated that he does not intend to make cuts to Medicaid as part of his efforts to reduce federal government spending, Escobar said it is almost inevitable his proposed cuts will cut into Medicaid.
“The reason there is this threat and very likelihood that (Medicaid) will be eliminated is so that the administration can give billionaires massive tax breaks. In order to pay those tax breaks, they are seeking to make cuts to Medicaid, to food programs,” Escobar said.
Escobar again criticized the Trump administration’s plans to use military installations and personnel in their efforts to carry out massive deportations of undocumented migrants.
“Not only is it the most expensive way to engage in deportation efforts, but it makes the process far less transparent, and it degrades our United States military. It degrades morale, and it sets back our military readiness. It’s bad any way you slice it, it’s not good for the country. It’s not good for our military. There’s a reason why we have a Department of Homeland Security,” Escobar said.
With the Trump administration’s stronger approach to immigration, Escobar spoke on the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that she and U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Florida, led but were unable to successfully push through Congress.
“I’m very proud of the work that we did together in a bipartisan way to enhance border security, to ensure that the border is not shouldering the burden of an outdated asylum system, to create, greater opportunities for visas to protect dreamers, and to make sure that we have a competitive economic edge as a country,” Escobar said.
“Representative Salazar and I are talking now about what an updated version of the Dignity Act could or should look like, given the new political environment, given the challenges that we face in Congress right now to get support for immigration reform, we’ve not yet introduced it, but we are actively working on the reintroduction and the rewriting of it,” Escobar added.
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