24 Feb Bay Area Dems in Congress Braced for State of the Union Address

President Donald Trump delivers the State of the Union in 2018. Standing immediately behind him in front of the flag are then-Vice President Mike Pence and then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, right. (FILE Shealah Craighead / White House via Bay City News)

By Kiley Russell
Bay City News

In the run-up to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, local Congressional leaders were voicing opposition to his policies and using their plus-one guests to make political points.

Trump’s nationally televised speech to a joint session of Congress comes amid fears about a war with Iran, domestic economic worries, budget cuts, ongoing mass deportations and bipartisan criticism over his administration’s handling of the infamous Epstein files, among other issues.

Lawmakers are allowed to bring a guest to the event and many Democrats are using the opportunity to highlight Trump policies they’d like to see reversed.

For example, U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Walnut Creek, will bring Caitlin Sly, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano.

Food banks like Sly’s will see increased demand following the roughly $187 billion in cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that Trump signed into law last year — cuts that highlight “the cruelty” of his administration, according to DeSaulnier.

“The cuts to SNAP and Medicaid represent an attack on the most vulnerable people we serve — seniors, children, working families, veterans, and people with disabilities,” Sly said in a news release. “Protecting these programs should be beyond partisan politics.”

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Fairfield, is hosting an open seat in honor of his former constituent Harjit Kaur, a 73-year-old grandmother who was taken into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody during a routine immigration appointment in San Francisco.

Kaur, who attended check-in appointments every six months for 13 years, was handcuffed and shipped to a detention facility in Bakersfield, then spirited away to Los Angeles, then Georgia and then deported to India.

Garamendi said he’s holding the seat open in honor of Kaur and “every person across the country that’s been caged, detained, and killed at the hands of Trump’s secret police force. Let her empty seat be a stark symbol of the human cost of Trump’s cruel deportation agenda.”

Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-San Jose, invited Rita Mancera, executive director of Puente de la Costa Sur, which serves Santa Clara County’s coastal rural residents — particularly undocumented farmworkers.

“President Trump will use his State of the Union for a cruel victory lap in successfully punishing our poorest neighbors — the very people responsible for harvesting our food, caring for our children, assisting our elderly parents, and sustaining our economy,” Liccardo said. “Rita Mancera has shown extraordinary strength in lifting our immigrant community and addressing their very real fears.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Santa Clara, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Castro Valley, like many Democrats, will host survivors of deceased sex offender Jeffery Epstein.

Haley Robson will attend with Khanna and has been a part of the push to get Trump’s Department of Justice to release the trove of evidence collected in the case against Epstein.

“Haley’s courageous fight is proof that this isn’t about politics, it’s about exposing America’s two-tiered system of justice and bringing accountability to the Epstein class involved in the horrific abuse of young girls,” said Khanna, who in an unusual turn of events will sit next to Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, another key figure in the effort to get the files released.

Swalwell will host Teresa Helm, a survivor of Epstein’s sex trafficking network who now works as an advocate and national leader in the fight against sexual exploitation and trafficking.

“I invited Teresa Helm as my guest because she has been waiting for justice for more than two decades,” Swalwell said. “Teresa’s bravery exposed the Epstein coverup. The president owes her — and all survivors — answers.”

The guest of House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, will be the Rev. Devon Jerome Crawford of the Third Baptist Church of San Francisco.

“With gratitude to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, I come to the State of the Union as a witness to a nation in moral crisis, where trust in our institutions has been eroded and righteous indignation is the rightful response to a broken and unaccountable governance,” Crawford said. “We have watched American citizens killed in the streets defending their neighbors, children terrorized by state violence, and elders held hostage in budget battles that strip dignity and life from the most vulnerable.”

Napa Democrat Rep. Mike Thompson’s guest is Bernie Narvaez, a Marine Corps veteran, small business owner, and Napa City Council member. Narvaez will attend in person while Thompson watches from an undisclosed location as the Democrats’ official “designated survivor.”

Designated survivors skip high-profile events in case a major catastrophe kills or incapacitates the leaders who are attending.

“Since the day he took office, this president has raised costs for hardworking families, unleashed ICE to terrorize our communities, and threatened unlawful military attacks on foreign countries. He’s made Americans’ lives and our democracy worse off,” Thompson said.

Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-San Mateo, won’t attend the speech in person as a form of protest and said he expects Trump to use the occasion “for self-promotion and turn it into a political spectacle where he incites division.”

“Trump has brought shame to our nation’s highest office. He is a convicted criminal, an authoritarian election denier, and an insurrectionist who has been the most destructive president in our nation’s history,” Mullin said.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, will deliver the Democratic Spanish language response to Trump’s State of the Union Address and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will deliver the Democratic response in English.

“Americans don’t need another speech from Donald Trump pretending everything is fine when their bills are too high, paychecks are too low, and masked and militarized federal agents are roaming our communities violating Constitutional rights on a daily basis,” Padilla said in a news release.

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