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Katherine Clark bucks Trump's State of the Union address
“Rather than listen to Donald Trump lie to the American people, 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,” she wrote in a statement.
Clark is the highest-ranking Democrat to announce they will not attend to date. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has urged members of Congress to either attend the speech in silence or skip it in defiance.
“The two options that are in front of us, in our house, is either attend with silent defiance, or to not attend, and send a message to Donald Trump in that fashion, which will include participation in a variety of different alternate programming,” Jeffries said during a press conference last week.
WHO ISN’T ATTENDING THE STATE OF THE UNION, AND WHAT TO EXPECT FROM DEMOCRATIC RESISTANCE
Clark is not the only member of Democratic congressional leadership who will be skipping the speech. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the No. 3 Senate Democrat, is set to skip the president’s address as well.
Many of the Democrats skipping the address are opting to engage in alternate programming, including a rally on the National Mall.