SWA #3 Masani Francis

The table above is of either legislation or specific issues that Donald Trump mentioned in his State of the Union Address.  He touched on some of these briefly and others he proposed and plans to follow up by signing legislation on the issue.  Several of these topics, he is absolutely correct in saying there is work to be done, even if his view does not necessarily reflect that of the entire country.  Some of the proposals he made in his SOTU (State of the Union) Address, can truly be passed.  Some of these include Health Care issues, such as funding for HIV and childhood cancer, which he spoke of in the address.  With this proposal, he is attempting to reach a goal of his administration’s, “eliminating HIV in the United States by 2030” (Vox.com Dylan Scott).  He states, “My budget will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the needed commitment to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years. Together, we will defeat AIDS in America”.  Here, he is specifically talking about both sides, Democrats and Republicans, working together in order to defeat HIV in America.  To persuade viewers and listeners of the good this would do, despite the sum of $500 million a year, he explains that the ten-year program would be funding “critical lifesaving research”.  Some issues he touched on would be quite difficult for him to pass, but it would not be too unlikely.  An example of this would be his huge infrastructure bill.  He says, “This is not an option.  This is a necessity”, and “many of the newly elected House Democrats from swing districts are (perhaps naively) optimistic about trying to get an infrastructure bill passed”, from the Vox article.  (Vox Scott).  Prescription drug pricing is also an area that Trump has stressed some importance, but it is an issue that even Democrats agree needs to be fixed.  The only issue is that “there is not yet a consensus within the party about the best way to tackle high drug costs” (Vox Scott).

Concerning Executive Power, Donald Trump certainly has a different view than other presidents have had.  A particular quote from the address had some people bothered.  He said, “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation”.  Nancy Pelosi, a Representative from California, saw this statement as a threat.  She stated, “The president should not bring threats to the floor of the House,” Pelosi said. “He said he wasn’t going to cooperate unless we didn’t exercise our constitutional responsibility to oversight” (Roll Call Lindsey McPherson).  Trump stated a lot of things about having to cooperate and compromise for the common good, wanting bipartisan unity in the divided Congress, but his past actions and the ideals of the Democratic members prove it may be difficult to achieve that status.

The Democratic response to the address was given by former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, Stacey Abrams.  She stressed several things in her speech.  She especially emphasized issues with gender and race prevalent in the United States, but she also touched on topics such as voting rights and equality, compromise between parties, and education.  She spotlighted the fact that children should be educated from “cradle to career”.  Regarding voting rights, she stated, “This is the next battle for our democracy, one where all eligible citizens can have their say about the vision we want for our country. We must reject the cynicism that says allowing every eligible vote to be cast and counter is a ‘power grab’”.  She also mentioned, “In this time of division and crisis, we must come together and stand for, and with, one another. America has stumbled time and again on its quest towards justice and equality; but with each generation, we have revisited our fundamental truths, and where we falter, we make amends”.

The legislative agenda outlined in the State of the Union Address had many similarities to the agenda outlined for my state legislature of Pennsylvania.  Some issues and topics that occurred in both were, education, health care, infrastructure, and voting reform.  Voting reform and education were more so talked about in the response to the Address, because Abrams stressed these things in her response, whereas Trump may have just touched on these issues briefly.  Issues and legislation on infrastructure and health care were talked about in Trump’s address, especially infrastructure, as he is pushing for legislation on this topic.  Some points outlined in my state legislature that were not talked about or barely talked about in Trump’s address were housing issues, criminal justice and gun violence, as well as energy and environment.