Schrier Will Not Boycott Trump’s Address to Congress

With some ambivalence, Rep. Kim Schrier has decided to attend President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress, his first since taking office.

The address promises a lot of rhetorical fireworks; some Democrats have derisively likened it to a "MAGA pep rally." More than a few Dems are refusing to be there, but don't count Schrier among the holdouts.

It's not a decision with which she's entirely comfortable. The four-term incumbent explicated her thought process in a statement issued Tuesday:

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While I make bipartisanship a priority in my work, I cannot ignore the harm this administration is inflicting on the people I represent in Washington’s Eighth District. My presence is not an endorsement of this administration or its actions. My presence is a commitment to not backing down from the long fight ahead on behalf of my constituents, who I came here to serve.

 

We need to preserve wildfire prevention and firefighting efforts which this administration jeopardized by firing critical Forest Service workers. We need to protect Veterans’ health care which this administration put at risk by mass firings at the VA. We must protect family farmers from the economic damage wrought by heavy tariffs that closed multigenerational farms that were imposed during the last Trump Administration.

 

I hear from federal employees forced to leave important work managing our forests to prevent catastrophic fires, from government-funded programs like the Bonney Lake Food Bank that rely on federal food programs to feed hungry community members, from rural hospitals in jeopardy if Republicans follow through with cuts to Medicaid, and from parents of students with disabilities who may lose access to public school services. They paid their taxes and are being left without the resources they count on.

Click here to read our chat with Schrier about recent blows to the Forest Service.

Trump's address is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.