Colin Allred

And folks, I think, came, and they were thanking me for coming, quite honestly, because they were just looking to have some way to express themselves outside of just, I think,

you know, doom scrolling on their phones.

And I think they felt a sense of community.

I think they felt a sense that they were not alone and that their concerns were shared by others.

And I think it was something that there are some things that you don't plan for and that are much more organic and just happen.

You can try and have a rally or response to something, but what really happens is when folks are fed up, then they show up with their, they vote with their feet.

And to spend part of your weekend walking around the heat in Texas for thousands of folks to do that, to do it peacefully, I think says a lot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, listen, I hate shutdowns as a rule.

When I was in Congress, my first, I was sworn in during a shutdown, and we introduced a bill pretty quickly thereafter called the SEAS Act.

It was called the Shutdown to End All Shutdowns Act.

And we were trying to make sure that if this did ever happen again, that the members of Congress and senators would feel the same pain as working people out there who are not getting paid.

But in this case, Republicans have the power, and the Speaker of the House has spent a month not calling the House back into session.

They have the power to negotiate this and say, listen, we know that we need your votes and we want to make sure that we are in consultation and negotiation the way things have always been done.

And I'm sorry they have not used the power that they have to try and protect folks' health care, which is what I think Democrats are standing up for.

We have 4 million Texans, 4 million here, who are in the Affordable Care Act exchanges.

I just got an email from some of the associations that I'm a part of saying that open enrollment is going to be starting next month and saying to expect dramatic increases in your costs and your premiums.

In some cases, we may see those double.

And if you see costs go up that much for your premium, that's basically the same thing as not having health care at all.