See highlights from Chair DelBene’s conversation below:
The Hill: 2026 Hill Nation Summit
“The focus has really been on the broken promises that have been made, not only by the administration, but by Republicans in Congress.
“Trump said on day one he was going to lower costs, well, that’s a big broken promise. People have seen costs spike on housing, food, health care, childcare, energy costs. Now, gas prices [are] skyrocketing directly as a result of the Big, Ugly Bill and policies put in place by this administration and Republicans in Congress — broken promise. They said they were only going after the worst of the worst when it came to immigration, and we’ve seen even more recently with what has happened in Houston and in Maine and across the country the violence in communities from ICE — broken promise. And he said no forever wars, also a broken promise, and we see what continues to happen in Iran with no strategy, no plan.
“So across the board, folks are saying, ‘What are you going to do to help us?’ And you hear from the administration, ‘affordability is a hoax. You know, actually, things are great,’ but when people look at their bank accounts or they go to the grocery store, things aren’t so great. That’s why it’s not working, and they don’t seem to care. There’s nothing. When you hear policy from Republicans right now, you don’t hear a thing about what they’re going to do to address the affordability crisis that’s impacting every corner of our country.”
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“In CA-22, David Valadao has the highest number of Medicaid recipients in the country in that district, and he voted to gut Medicaid. And so, people in that community who are struggling — and health care is a huge issue and a huge affordability issue. Yeah, we’re going to hold them accountable for the votes that they’ve taken.
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“Despite their attempts to gerrymander, starting in Texas, we still have opportunities to pick up seats. In TX-15 and TX-35, we have Bobby Pulido and Johnny Garcia — opportunities to flip districts in Texas — and folks like Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar in strong positions for re-election. All this, all of the things they did to try to continue to change districts, et cetera, it backfires because they’re not focused on the issues that matter. They’re not listening to their communities, and people know that they want folks who are going to stand up for them.”
