Democrats hope to confront Trump with people impacted by his actions during his speech before Congress
WASHINGTON — When President Trump addresses Congress on Tuesday, a key group of people impacted by his deep cuts to the federal government will be watching from the audience.
Former federal workers and beneficiaries of government programs will be invited by Democrats, continuing a longstanding, bipartisan tradition of bringing guests to presidential speeches before Congress to highlight a message. This year, for Democrats, that message is about Americans they say are being hurt or could be hurt by the actions of the Trump administration.
“I want Donald Trump to see at least one of the federal workers he fired, the people who make this country run,” Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said.
Warren is bringing Doug Kowalewski of Wellesley, who was a program director at the National Science Foundation until last month when he was fired as part of the Elon Musk and DOGE-led large-scale reduction of the federal workforce. Kowalewski spoke at Warren’s town hall in Framingham days after being let go, telling his story and asking her what she was doing to respond to the cuts to science funding and staff.
The interaction left an impression on Warren and when she was thinking about who to bring to the joint address, Kowalewski leapt to mind.
“I felt so angry with how hatefully Elon Musk had treated him,” Warren said of listening to Kowalewski’s remarks. “Elon Musk didn’t make an argument for the best places to cut. He just wielded a chainsaw, both literally and metaphorically, and denigrated federal workers who made a commitment to public service and live that every single day. I was standing there on stage listening to Doug and I’m thinking, Elon Musk needs to hear this, Donald Trump needs to hear this.”
Warren is not alone. Representative Ayanna Pressley of Boston will also be bringing a fired federal worker: Claire Bergstresser, a wheelchair user and Everett resident who worked in the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Representative Richard Neal of Springfield will be joined by Michael Slater, a veteran who was fired from the local VA Veterans Center.
In fact, in a letter obtained by the Globe, the leaders of House Democrats’ messaging arm urged their colleagues to bring a guest to the joint address “who has been harmed by the Trump administration’s early actions or will be hurt by the House Republican budget.”
“It is more important than ever that House Democrats tune out the stream of chaos unleashed by Trump, Elon Musk, and House Republicans and communicate with precision on the issues that matter to hardworking American taxpayers,” wrote Michigan Representative Debbie Dingell and co-chairs, including Westford Representative Lori Trahan.
Warren’s counterpart, Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, is also highlighting workers with his invite. His guest will be Chrissy Lynch, the president of the Massachusetts branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
Several Massachusetts lawmakers on the House side are highlighting health and science cuts with their invites.
House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Revere will be bringing Sarah Wroblewski, a mom of four whose youngest child, Declan, has a rare form of brain cancer. According to Clark’s office, doctors in Boston have removed his tumor and his ongoing treatment comes from research by the National Institutes of Health. The Trump administration has tried to cap NIH funding and fired staffers at the agency. His special education services could also be threatened by reductions at the Department of Education, Clark’s office said.
“Every day, Sarah is fighting for her son Declan’s life,” Clark said in a statement. “And yet, our own president is dismantling her greatest source of hope: research for a cure.”
Newton Representative Jake Auchincloss will be bringing Atul Gawande, the former leader of global health at USAID, to call attention to the administration’s substantial cuts to the agency and raise his concerns about the possible efforts of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to affect vaccinations at home and abroad. Gawande is the founder of Ariadne Labs, a health innovation hub run jointly by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and he has been an outspoken critic of cuts to USAID.
“It’s an opportunity to humanize the effects of federal policy and also to draw attention to under-appreciated dimensions of federal policy,” Auchincloss said of his choice of guest. “I think it’s easy for Americans to look past what it means to dismantle USAID, but Dr. Gawande, who worked there, knows that means that moms and children are going to die overseas.”
The guest of Worcester Representative Jim McGovern will be Sue Koehler, a Leominster resident whose son has a disability and relies on Medicaid. Though Trump has denied he wants to cut Medicaid, House Republicans have approved a framework for budget cuts that would amount to significant reductions in Medicaid.
Trump will also likely have invited guests in the audience to highlight parts of his speech. During addresses in his first term, Trump often invited family members of people who were killed by undocumented immigrants and government officials who conduct immigration enforcement, military members and their families, and people helped by health research and technology innovation. At his last State of the Union address, he presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom to conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, who was there as his guest.
A previous version of this story did not make clear how Sue Koehler is affected by Medicaid. Her son has a disability and is reliant on the program. The Globe regrets the error.
By: Tal Kopan
Source: Boston Globe