- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Congressman Thompson responds to president’s State of the Union address
Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), whose Fifth Congressional District includes the southern half of Lake County, has been a consistent critic of the president.
Nonetheless, Thompson called the speech “a great show,” in a Tuesday night interview with Lake County News.
“It was clearly the best speech that he’s ever read,” he said.
However, “It was very short on substance,” according to Thompson.
Thompson said the speech’s only detailed drill down came on immigration reform, “and he was talking about policy that he has no agreement on in the Congress.” Trump also talked about the border wall, which he pitched as a way to keep out terrorism and drugs.
Immigration – an issue that is important to Thompson’s district – is “up in the air,” with little evidence that federal officials are actually pursuing criminals. Thompson said he’s also getting a lot of reports of raids in his district.
The speech also covered the new tax law, which Thompson said will only benefit the middle class temporarily.
“The big benefits accrue to the super rich and corporations,” he said, noting that 83 percent of the tax cuts are going to the top 1 percent of rich Americans and corporations, middle class families will see little benefits, with 9 million families actually seeing a tax increase next year. Worse, Republicans added $2.3 trillion to our national debt to pay for these cuts.
Thompson said there also were many things the president didn’t discuss that he had hoped he would – everything from health care to the gun violence prevention that claims 30 American lives a year, climate change, investment in infrastructure and the $81 billion disaster relief package the House passed for fire and hurricane survivors that is currently collecting dust in the Senate. All of those things are important to his district.
Nonetheless, “It was a great win for him tonight,” said Thompson. “I’m assuming that he’ll get a good bump out of this.”
The speech also was notable to Thompson for another reason: “It wasn’t a divisive speech that everyone suspected it would be.”
As for whether he expects the speech’s topics to become key issues over the coming year, Thompson said the president shifts course quickly, so it’s hard to tell – you don’t know if what’s on his mind today will be on his mind tomorrow.
Thompson said the president’s quick changes in mood and interests absolutely impact Congress in its work. “You don’t know where to start and you don’t know where to go.”
Thompson on Tuesday night already was looking toward other hurdles ahead, including another looming government shutdown at the start of February.
He said there’s lots to do to keep the government going, including a promise from Senate leadership that an immigration bill will be brought forward. But Thompson said that’s yet to be seen.
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