Guests impacted by Trump administration cuts invited to Congressional address
OAKLAND, Calif. - Bay Area Congress members invited a diverse group of guests to attend President Trump's address before Congress on Tuesday night. Laid off federal workers, veterans, advocates for health care, social services, and civil rights were among those who went to Washington D.C.
"I invited Daniel Sandecki because I wanted the president to see how his decisions are harming Americans," Congressman Sam Liccardo of San Jose said, sitting next to his guest on Capitol Hill. Sandecki is a U.S. Army veteran who had 10 years of active duty service before he was disabled. He was working as an emergency manager for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, but the Trump administration fired him.
Rep. Liccardo says hours after he announced he'd invited Sandecki to Washington, the government reversed course and said they wanted to rehire Sandecki.
"I'm still trying to process it. I do feel a lot of confusion. I feel a lot of tension," Sandecki said. "This isn't the tech field where you can break something and fix on the fly. If you break something while you're serving the nation and there is a stoppage of service to people in the nation who need that...it is harder to repair."
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, (D) San Jose, also invited a former federal worker, who was laid off from the USDA in the South Bay as part of the Trump administration's cuts.
"He's a veteran, Air Force veteran, he's a scientist," Rep. Lofgren said. "He got a letter firing him saying it was for poor performance, but he attached his performance review...it was glowing about the wonderful job he was doing."
Others invited guests who were advocating for social services.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invited Elena Hung, a Medicaid advocate with the group Little Lobbyists, to express concern about the Trump administration's proposed cuts to Medicaid.
East Bay Congressman Mark DeSaulnier, (D) Walnut Creek, invited Alisa Rosillo, the California leader of the Changing Spaces Campaign, who says cuts to healthcare services will impact her family directly.
"The cuts that the president is suggesting to Medicaid would affect this community. There are 10 million people in the United States with disabilities, lots of kids," Rep. DeSaulnier said.
"In our instance, this is the first time in 26 years I have gone without home nursing or nursing care for my son because nobody can work for that wage," Rosillo said.
"I'm bringing Jason Selvig, who has a podcast called The Good Liars with a lot of viewers, especially in a younger demographic and he calls out BS, but he does it with facts," Rep. Eric Swalwell, (D) Castro Valley, said, adding that the Democratic Party needs to speak out and find better ways to communicate the party's values to the American people.
"I just hope that my colleagues and I are able to convey to him, and the American people and Republican colleagues, that we are not going to let this happen without a fight," Rep. Jared Huffman, (D) San Rafael, said.
Some say they hope President Trump will show willingness to work across the aisle, but if he doesn't, many Democrats are prepared to stand up and fight.
"If he wants to be a partner, I'm a big boy. I'll work with him to be a partner on the issues that matter. But if he's just going to air his grievances and go after his political enemies, he'll find vocal opposition," Rep. Swalwell said.
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