A number of Democratic legislators will be bringing activists as their guests to Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, including “Dreamers,” local politicians, and women speaking out as part of the #MeToo movement.
Tuesday’s speech will be President Trump’s first State of the Union. It comes one week after the government shuttered when the Senate failed to come to an agreement on a deal for Deferred Action Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients, known as “Dreamers.” A number of members of Congress have also recently resigned or announce retirements amid sexual misconduct accusations, and questions about gun control policy are swirling after Congress again failed to pass any common sense gun control measures in the wake of several mass shootings.
Some members of Congress have simply decided not to attend the address, but others, like Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) have decided to try and send their own message about the state of the country with the guests they’ve invited to join them Tuesday night.
“This is the State of the Union address, so for many of us, the president shouldn’t be the only one addressing the state of the union,” Quigley said in an interview with ThinkProgress Monday.
The Illinois congressman is bringing Erin Walton, the executive director of Rape Victims Advocates, a nonprofit that works with sexual assault survivors. Quigley said he wanted to bring Walton to give her an opportunity to send a message about the important work she is doing.
“She’s someone who understands the brave women who have come forward [and] what that means,” Quigley said, adding that he also wants to send a message about one of his own legislative priorities — overhauling the way sexual misconduct allegations are handled on the Hill.
“I think men have a role to play in changing the culture,” Quigley told ThinkProgress Monday. “Men have to take a hard look at ourselves, our systems, our cultures… Men need to step up.”
The president himself has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than 15 women, accusations the White House has flatly denied. As Quigley put it Monday, “Trump is a voice of division,” and the congressman said he wanted to bring Walton to his address Tuesday because he’s seen the way her work brings people together and lifts up survivors.
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) is taking a similar route on Tuesday night.
“I decided when I was first elected I would always be in my seat,” Kildee told ThinkProgress on Monday, “even for the really unpleasant moments.”
Trump’s State of the Union Tuesday, Kildee said, is one of those “really unpleasant moments.”
“This president… makes it really hard to take,” he told ThinkProgress. That’s part of the reason he decided to invite anti-gun violence activist Reverend Jeffrey Hawkins Sr. as his guest. Hawkins lost two sons to gun violence in Flint, Michigan. Kildee told ThinkProgress that he hopes Hawkins’ presence Tuesday night will send a message to legislators that it’s important to continue looking for ways to fight gun violence in the United States.
After a mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada last October that left 58 people dead and hundreds more injured, Kildee introduced an amendment to a concealed carry bill that would have outlawed bump stocks — modifications that make it possible for semi-automatic weapons to fire at the same rate as automatic weapons, several of which the gunman used in the Las Vegas attack. The amendment went nowhere and was dismissed almost immediately by the rules committee.
Kildee told ThinkProgress on Monday that he’s now focused on other initiatives that could help prevent gun violence like that which took the lives of Hawkins’ sons. Those initiatives include additional resources for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and after school and summer work programs.
In the meantime, Kildee wants to send a message.
“As objectionable as I find this president to be, he won’t keep me from being in my seat,” Kildee said. “It’s an opportunity to make a statement.”
Other legislators have chosen to make a statement with their guests as well. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH) has invited sexual assault survivor Chessy Prout, and a number of other members have chosen to honor Recy Taylor, an African-American woman who was gang raped in the 1940s and chose to speak out despite the danger in doing so. Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-MI) has invited an author and history who has research and written about Taylor, while Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) is reportedly bringing a member of Taylor’s family.
Rep. Sandy Levin (D-MI) is inviting Nahrain Hamama, the wife of an Iraqi Christian who was arrested and detained by immigration agents last year, and Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) has invited Cindy Garcia, the wife of a man who was deported to Mexico earlier this month, despite having no criminal record.
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has invited Denea Joseph, a DACA recipient who came to the United States from Belize as a child. In a statement, Harris said Dreamers like Joseph represent “the best of who we are as a nation.”
“Her commitment to the representation and empowerment of black immigrant communities is inspiring,” Harris said in the release. “We must continue to fight to give her and the hundreds of thousands of other young people like her who are living in fear, the security they need to live up to their full potential.”
With #DACA I was able to intern in a Congressional office, study abroad in Spain and Morocco and graduate from one of the top institutions in the nation, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with my BA. The time is now for a permanent solution for undocumented youth. pic.twitter.com/WEx8LoedYV
— Denea Joseph (@DeneaRandeen) January 21, 2018
Joseph’s invitation comes as the fight for DACA reaches a fever pitch. If Congress does not develop a fix following Trump’s dissolution of the program last September, Dreamers like Joseph could begin to face deportation in early March.
Accompanying Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on Tuesday night is San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz. Gillibrand announced on Monday that she had invited Cruz, saying on Facebook that the mayor has shown “extraordinary leadership and fearless advocacy” in the wake of a devastating hurricane season.
“I hope her presence at the State of the Union will remind the president and my colleagues in Congress of their moral responsibility to our fellow Americans,” Gillibrand said on Facebook. “They must never be forgotten or left behind.”
On Tuesday, NPR reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will “officially shut off” food and water aid to Puerto Rico on Wednesday, despite ongoing struggles on the island.