Lisa Blunt Rochester: “I want to begin by thanking you so much, Senator Booker, for your leadership, and thank you for the opportunity to ask…”

“I want to begin by thanking you so much, Senator Booker, for your leadership, and thank you for the opportunity to ask you a question. As I stood and listened to you, I was reminded of why we are in this place in the first place. I see my colleague--the Presiding Officer, a member of my class--and I think one of the key things that you talked about was ensuring that we recognize that we are all in this together. I think it was even Martin Luther King who said we may have come over on different ships, but we are all in the same boat now. We may have come over on different ships. I feel like, in this very present moment, we have to recognize we are all in this together. And, to your point, when we think about the importance of Medicaid to this country, a lot of people don't even realize that they are on Medicaid. They might think of a health program that they are on, but they don't even make the connection with the fact that they are on Medicaid and that almost half of the babies in this country are born because of Medicaid. And it is not just from birth; it goes all the way to seniors who are aging with dignity because they have access to Medicaid, and it is allowing their family members to go to work because they don't have to worry about that family member. And so I wanted to, No. 1--in addition to asking my question--say thank you to you for not only shining a light on these potentially dangerous cuts but also ringing the alarm.…”