WASHINGTON — President Trump said his speech to Congress on Tuesday would convey what was in his heart. In two words, that was “America first.”
The President started with a nod to Black History Month and a condemnation of “hate in all of its ugly forms” in his joint session address in the House of Representatives.
But he returned again and again in the speech to the primacy of the United States and its citizens.
He promised that by putting citizens first, “dying industries will come roaring back,” veterans will get care, the drug epidemic will slow down and stop, and neglected inner cities will get the attention they need. He pledged again a massive infrastructure rebuilding program.
He said the simple formula of “buy American, hire American” would solve problems.
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There were few details with the big ideas. He talked of the waste of military ventures in other countries, pointing out that money spent in foreign wars could have rebuilt the country twice over — but pledged more money for the military and veterans.
He returned to the themes of his campaign. He said he has responded to the pleas for immigration enforcement and border security and talked of “lawless chaos” at the border and pledged once again to build a “great, great wall” at the Mexican border. But he hinted at a plan for immigration reform he’d talked about earlier in the day at a closed door meeting by saying that he would institute a “merit-based” system of immigration, admitting only those who could support themselves.
He said the Affordable Care Act would be replaced, saying that “Obamacare is collapsing, and we must act decisively to protect all Americans” from the “imploding Obamacare disaster.”
His words were applauded strongly, including by U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, who praised the President for outlining “positive solutions to tackle a number of critical issues facing our country,” the Tipton, Mich., Republican said in a statement. Mr. Walberg cited the President’s call to roll back regulations, overhaul the tax code, and create “affordable health care options.”
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) said she liked the President’s call for rebuilding infrastructure, although she said she hadn’t seen the funding details; his “buy American” idea; and “his focus on the scourge of heroin and opioid addiction, which is crushing Ohio right now.”
She said the President gave broad outlines of replacing the Affordable Care Act, “but he doesn’t have a proposal that holds water” and that while he spoke of buying coverage through tax credits and health savings accounts, “there’s no way the average citizen is going to be able to fund health care in that manner.”
Miss Kaptur had as her guest, Kevin Filiatraut of Bay Village, Ohio, whose wife, Kim, has stage 4 breast cancer. She is covered by insurance he has through his employer.
Mr. Filiatraut said that a return to lifetime or annual caps on coverage would be “going backwards for a family like mine.”
The Democratic response came from former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear. In prepared remarks, he said, “Mr. President, as a candidate, you promised to be a champion for people struggling to make ends meet ... and I hope you live up to that promise. But one of your first executive orders makes it harder for those families to afford a mortgage.
“... And you picked a Cabinet of billionaires and Wall Street insiders who want to eviscerate the protections that most Americans count on and that help level the playing field. That’s not being our champion. That’s being Wall Street’s champion.”
The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Tracie Mauriello is Washington Bureau Chief for the Post-Gazette. Blade staff writer Mark Zaborney contributed to this report.
Contact Mauriello at: tmauriello@post-gazette.com, 703-996-9292, or on Twitter @pgPoliTweets.
First Published March 1, 2017, 5:12 a.m.