Arizona opinion: Shame on Schweikert: Why his support for Republicans' budget proposal could spell disaster for Arizona

Last week, the Republican Study Committee — a group representing more than 80% of House Republicans in Congress — released a radical budget proposal for 2025. This budget framework has left me furious for a multitude of reasons, but in particular, because the plan would upend the lives of millions of Arizonans by ripping away our fundamental freedoms and cutting programs that help people in our state stay healthy and enjoy a dignified retirement.

I’m particularly irate that among the supporters of this extreme plan include my own congressman, David Schweikert. He is joined by three other members of Arizona’s congressional delegation in supporting this plan, including Reps. Juan Ciscomani, Debbie Lesko, and Paul Gosar.

As a doctor, I am deeply concerned by a number of the proposal’s draconian measures that would limit bodily autonomy, including enacting a national ban on abortion and making fertility care, like in vitro fertilization (IVF), illegal — both of which may be legal thanks to Donald Trump’s MAGA Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.

Those are hardly the only policies that could affect Arizonans’ health care. Others include ending Medicare as we know it by turning the program into a voucher system where seniors would need to shop for coverage using a government subsidy – regardless of whether the subsidy covers the cost of care, impacting the 1.4 million Arizonans on Medicare. The plan would also roll back recent progress the Biden administration has made in reining in Big Pharma by negotiating lower prices for prescription drugs. Last but not least, the plan would gut the Affordable Care Act, including preventing young people from being able to stay on a parents’ health plan until age 26 and allowing insurers to charge the 6 in 10 seniors and others with chronic conditions in my state more for their health care.

As a family physician, I’ve seen firsthand how programs like the Affordable Care Act have completely changed the landscape for patients and even for me and my employees. Before the ACA, almost none of my patients with private insurance could get an IUD without a deductible of $1,000-$2,000. Now, most of our patients are able to get birth control and family planning care with no deductible at all. But for MAGA Republicans, like Rep. David Schweikert and Donald Trump, people who cannot afford to pay out of pocket should be forced to go without care.

But it is not just people’s physical health that would be put in jeopardy by this radical budget blueprint — it would also put their financial health at risk as well. Chiefly, the plan would raise the retirement age to 69, taking retirement benefits away from millions of Arizonans who have worked hard to earn them. I’m particularly concerned about the prospect of this idea in light of recent comments from Donald Trump that he is open to cutting entitlement programs like Social Security.

The RSC 2025 budget proposal is indicative of rising extremism in today’s MAGA Republican Party. Their ideas not only counter what the Arizonans want to see from their elected officials but would actively harm us. For instance, a national abortion ban would not eliminate abortion, but it would put women’s lives at risk. If they really cared about human life and supporting families, they wouldn’t be simultaneously pushing for cuts to programs that families rely on.

Our elected leaders should be working to guarantee Americans have more control over their lives, not less. Nothing in Rep. Schweikert’s radical MAGA budget plan works toward that end. Instead, it strips hardworking Americans of their freedoms and benefits to pay for more than $5 trillion in tax cuts. That is anathema to Arizonans’ values, which is why it must be defeated.