House Minority Whip Katherine Clark said she will be skipping President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech Tuesday, becoming the most senior Democrat to boycott the annual address.
“I will be hearing from the people of my district about their personal experiences with skyrocketing costs, new barriers to health care, dismantled Social Security services, and brutal cuts to medical research,” the No. 2 House Democrat said in a statement.
The Massachusetts lawmaker pointed to the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens in Minnesota last month as a stalemate over Homeland Security funding heads into a second week. She also said Trump is “standing in the way of truth” in citing the DOJ’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have said they plan to attend Trump’s address. Jeffries has encouraged members to either sit in silent defiance or attend alternative programming as dozens of rank-and-file members have announced plans to skip the speech.
“Donald Trump’s presidency has been one broken promise after another, and the people of this country and the Commonwealth deserve so much better,” Clark said.
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