Aboard flight, dad battling ALS pleads with Sen. Jeff Flake to vote no on tax bill

Cydney Henderson and Ronald J. Hansen | The Arizona Republic

Show Caption Hide Caption Flake Plane Interview Ady Barkan had spent a week trying to get lawmakers' attentions and giving speeches outside their offices, ending in an arrest. So when he heard Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake was on his American Airlines flight to Phoenix, he saw his moment.

A 33-year-old father battling ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, was flying home last week after traveling to Washington, D.C., to protest the tax bill when he came face-to-face with one of the lawmakers he most hoped to influence.

Ady Barkan and others had spent a week trying to get lawmakers' attention and giving speeches outside their offices.

So when he heard Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake was on his American Airlines flight to Phoenix, he saw his moment.

"He is the single most important swing vote in this tax bill, and I need to tell him my story to vote against it," he recalled on Friday.

'I wanted him to hear my story'

Barkan said he was a "healthy person" just a year ago. Now he lives with ALS, an incurable disease that destroys nerve cells in the body.

"I walk with a cane. I have trouble breathing, and I can’t pick my baby up," he said in one of the videos, which were recorded and posted by Liz Jaff, a passenger he met while boarding the plane.

"I wanted him to hear my story and answer some questions and hopefully persuade him to vote against it," Barkan told The Republic.

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Here's what they discussed:

Part 1 of the #flakesonaplane saga @AdyBarkan tells his story to @JeffFlake, the swing vote on the #GOPTaxScam. pic.twitter.com/PPiuv5Rrc8 — Liz - We're doing it (@lizjaff) December 8, 2017

Barkan started the conversation by telling Flake about his diagnosis and his rising medical costs.

"What should I tell my son, or what would you tell my son if you pass this bill and he cuts funding for disability and I can't get a ventilator?" he asks.

What about paygo cuts?

He then asked about cuts required by paygo, a budget acronym for the "pay as you go" rule, which requires spending cuts to offset new spending or revenue losses.

The Republican tax-cut bills, which are expected to add about $1.5 trillion to the national debt over 10 years and do not include corresponding spending cuts, could trigger the rule.

That means the White House Office of Management and Budget would be required to identify about $150 billion in annual spending cuts to bring down revenue losses.

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Barkan is worried Medicaid and disability funds could be gutted.

Flake told Barkan that House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell intend to waive paygo for the cuts, but it's not entirely their call to make.

"I've voted in favor of paygo, implementing it," Flake said. "But it's waived every time, and that's part of the problem. We never do the cuts."

The deficit and economic growth

Part 3 @AdyBarkan and @JeffFlake go head to head on the #GOPTaxScam and discuss the defecit and economic growth #flakesonaplane pic.twitter.com/oyOBxBJTqE — Liz - We're doing it (@lizjaff) December 8, 2017

Flake goes on to tell Barkan that tax reforms are needed to help the economy break out of the relatively sluggish 1.8% annual growth seen in recent years.

Barkan notes that the government's own nonpartisan estimates indicate that, even when accounting for the full economic effects of the tax cuts — something known as dynamic scoring — the plans will drain revenue, not add to it.

Flake said the scoring misses at least some of the growth Republicans expect under the tax cuts.

Later in their conversation, Flake said the U.S. corporate tax rates leave the nation "out of step around the world on corporate tax rates."

A Treasury Department report under the Obama administration found that the tax rates businesses actually pay is significantly lower than the 35% sticker price and is actually less than many other industrialized nations, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.

Read more: Senate passes huge tax cuts after last-minute changes; conference with House next

'This is your moment' on DACA

Barkan praised Flake's stance on "dreamers" and called on Flake to withhold his vote on the tax bill in order to get a legislative solution to immigration issues.

"This is your moment. You gave this speech. You're leaving in 12 months. You can force them to get a clean DACA bill by January first," Barkan said.

Flake said he has talked to Vice President Mike Pence and thinks "we'll get a solution. I hope it's before March."

Flake said that he, like Sen. John McCain, is not happy with the process.

'You can save my life'

Grand finale @AdyBarkan tells @JeffFlake this is his chance to be the American hero and #killthebill the #GOPTaxScam and help him live and save millions of Americans. #flakesonaplane pic.twitter.com/BObnURTu5w — Liz - We're doing it (@lizjaff) December 8, 2017

Barkan asked Flake to make the most of his moment and vote no on the tax bill.

"You can save my life," Barkan said. "Please remember this conversation."

Barkan expects two things will come from this chance encounter.

The first involves those who call Arizona home.

"I hope and expect Arizonans to call, call, call Senator Flake to make their opinions known," he said. "Call Congress at 202-224-3121 to tell your stories."

The second involves Flake's response.

"I expect Flake will listen very carefully to his constituents to do the right thing because it will make his grandchildren and children proud," he said. "(Flake) could become an American hero, and this is his moment."