ICYMI: DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta Slams Republican Transit Cuts & Shameless Budget Bill Rebrand on the Democrats’ Daily Blueprint Arrow

In case you missed it, Pennsylvania State Representative and DNC Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta joined the Democrats' Daily Blueprint today to address his 105-mile walk across Pennsylvania to raise awareness about Republican cuts to mass transit. Kenyatta also slammed Republicans for attempting to rebrand their disastrous budget bill and talked about how Democrats are going everywhere and talking to everyone to make clear what's at stake in the upcoming elections.

WATCH

You can find highlights from the conversation below:

On his 105 mile-march from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to call attention to devastating cuts to mass transit funding:

Vice Chair Kenyatta: "This was an opportunity to draw attention in this visceral way to what was happening. Certainly my walk was symbolic, but what's not symbolic are the the millions of folks who use mass transit across Pennsylvania - not just in my hometown but across the Commonwealth - who are on the edge of their seats, either enduring cuts already, like we are in southeastern Pennsylvania, or are on the precipice of having to endure cuts because Republicans refuse to do their jobs."

On the sports-betting company FanDuel restoring SEPTA service to get Philadelphia Eagles fans to and from the stadium:

Vice Chair Kenyatta: "We shouldn't have a sports betting company doing the job of Republican state senators, but here we are. This crisis by them is completely manufactured. This is keeping kids from school. There's great reporting out - devastating reporting - but good in terms of its depth, of how this has led to absences spiking just in the first week of school, about keeping people from doctors appointments. But more to the point, transportation gets us to the things that matter in our lives. You know, when you're stuck in traffic, you are kept away from making dinner for your kids, of being able to get to that maybe that first date, to be able to get to that sports game or to your church or to your mosque or to your synagogue, this is what they are robbing us of: the ability to live our lives fully and holistically."

On the failed Republican attempt to rebrand their "One Big Beautiful Bill":

Vice Chair Kenyatta: "This is a bill that … gutted Medicare and Medicaid. It's going to devastate our rural hospitals, including some of the very communities that I walked through when I was on my 105-mile walk. It is going to steal food from the mouths of kids who are going to school and send them to classrooms with hungry bellies. Why are they doing all that? Because they want to cut taxes for the wealthiest people in the world.

"These are not folks with one private jet, these are not folks with one yacht. These are not folks with two homes. These are folks who own private islands, and yet they are giving them even greater tax cuts. Trump has a thing with people in islands like the Epstein one where, you know, maybe he spent a little bit of time. So it's no surprise to me that he would not only be protecting the release of the Epstein files, but protecting the folks who own their own private islands. It's kind of a pattern with this guy."

On the importance of going everywhere and talking to everyone:

Vice Chair Kenyatta: "We have to be willing to go anywhere. And our chair [Ken Martin] says it all the time. If you organize everywhere, you can win anywhere. And a part of organizing is showing up, right? That's like 95% of it - showing up with a real interest in engaging.

…

"We can do two things at once. We can forcefully push back against lies and misrepresentations, and we can talk about the Democratic agenda to make life better for working people and working families - to give folks a family sustaining job backed up by a union, to be in a country where everybody can go to the doctor if they're sick and afford the prescription when they leave the appointment, to go to a good, fully-funded public school, to retire with a level of dignity and decency."

###