Local lawmakers react to Trump’s State of the Union address
The lawmakers representing Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland counties in Washington, D.C., had mixed reactions to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address delivered Tuesday night.
In his second State of the Union speech, Trump called for unity and bipartisanship while arguing in favor of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, renewing his demand that sparked the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
“President Trump laid out an inspiring vision of American exceptionalism,” said Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters Township. “I support President Trump’s challenge to Congress to cast aside partisan, political pandering and get to work for the American people. I am ready to work across the aisle on common sense, bipartisan solutions to reform our broken immigration system, protect American workers, rebuild America, and lower the cost of prescription drugs.”
Reschenthaler represents the 14th District, which covers Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties and western and central portions of Westmoreland County.
Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, criticized Trump’s speech, saying the president should have pledged “no more shutdowns” and committed to additional steps to help federal employees recover from the adverse impact of the government shutdown, which ended less than two weeks ago after Trump agreed to end it without funding for a border wall.
Trump signed a bill Jan. 25 to reopen the government for three weeks, 35 days after the partial shutdown began, warning that he might again shut the government down for a wall or declare a national emergency to fund the wall, a move that would likely face legal challenges.
Trump had refused to sign spending bills that lack $5.7 billion he wants to begin constructing the wall, a move opposed by Democrats, who hold a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump said during the 2016 presidential campaign that Mexico would pay for the wall.
Trump did not mention the shutdown in his State of the Union address.
Reschenthaler and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey exhorted House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi to negotiate with Trump on the issue of border security.
“The obvious, necessary solution to our budget impasse is a compromise that improves border security – including physical barriers where requested by (U.S.) Customs and Border Protection – and delivers on some Democrat priorities, too,” Toomey said.
“It is essential that we address the humanitarian crisis on the southern border to stop human trafficking and keep criminals and drugs from entering our country,” Reschenthaler said. ” … President Trump should not have to declare a state of emergency to protect our border. Americans expect us to work together to find to a solution.”
Toomey suggested that Trump was “right to underscore the significance of” national progress on the economy, which the senator attributed to sweeping GOP tax reform passed in December 2017 and deregulatory efforts since Trump took office two years ago.
Toomey alluded to the fact that the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 3.7 percent in September 2018, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest rate since 1969. It has since ticked back up to 4 percent. The BLS defines unemployed as people who are jobless, looking for a job, and available for work.
But Toomey again objected to the Trump administration’s tariffs, which Trump heralded during his speech, noting that his administration recently imposed tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese goods.
“The administration is taking us down the wrong path,” Toomey said. “Tariffs on products imported into the United States are taxes, paid by American consumers, that harm American families and workers. Congress must reassert its constitutional responsibility on trade, not cede even more to the executive branch.”
Trump did ask Congress to pass the United States Reciprocal Trade Act, legislation introduced in the House which would authorize the president to impose a rate of duty on imports equal to a rate of duty on the same good imposed by a foreign country.
Toomey called for the administration’s negotiations with China to focus on ending Chinese theft of intellectual property, an issue that Trump noted during his speech.
Toomey also commended Trump for urging Congress to make health care more affordable.
“And he is right to set the ambitious goals of ending HIV/AIDS and childhood cancer,” Toomey said. “I look forward to working with the president and my colleagues to achieve these goals.”
Trump said his upcoming budget proposal will ask Congress for $500 million dollars over the next 10 years to fund research focusing on childhood cancer therapies.
Trump also prioritized protecting patients with preexisting medical conditions despite his administration in June announcing it would no longer defend key parts of the Affordable Care Act in court, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions.
Reschenthaler said that there is room for bipartisan action on issues such as infrastructure and lowering drug prices.
“There is room for both sides to come together to confront these challenges,” Reschenthaler said. “I look forward to working with President Trump and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find common sense solutions that will benefit every American and keep our country safe.”
Casey said Trump “missed an opportunity to speak to America’s middle class families who are struggling to make ends meet.”
“He could have committed to a substantial tax cut for those families,” Casey said. “He could have talked to working parents about a comprehensive agenda for their children – investing in education, safeguarding their health care, rebuilding their schools and protecting them from violence. Unfortunately, he used his platform tonight to reinforce the same talking points and to double down on his corporate agenda.”
AFL-CIO President and Nemacolin native Richard Trumka blasted Trump’s speech, alluding to Trump saying during his address that “mass illegal immigration” impacted working-class Americans by reducing jobs, overburdening schools and increasing crime.
“I found that one of the most offensive things that I’ve ever heard anybody say,” Trumka said. “This from the guy who’s made our lives harder, our wallets lighter and our jobs more dangerous.”
Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Val DiGiorgio hailed Trump’s address.
“President Trump gave us an outstanding speech and I could not be more proud to support his agenda,” DiGiorgio said. “Whether it’s his concern for keeping Americans safe, advocating for innocent life, or his strenuous defense of liberty and American interests, President Trump demonstrated why he should be re-elected.”