Trump’s address divides state’s U.S. delegation

The vision that President Donald Trump outlined in his State of the Union address Tuesday night — one of “building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society” — was largely harangued by Pennsylvania’s Democrats and loudly echoed by the state’s Republicans.

The future of the country was at the center of most of their statements, with U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, a Democrat, and Pat Toomey, a Republican, offering the starkest contrast — a split that by all indications will continue when they cast their votes in the impeachment trial of the president Wednesday.

Mr. Casey took to Twitter minutes after Mr. Trump completed his remarks to say he heard nothing from the president that showed the year ahead will be any different, and that for three years, Mr. Trump and Republicans in Congress “have pursued a corporate agenda that gives obscene tax cuts to the super-rich, rips health care away from millions and shortchanges our children.”

Mr. Toomey, lauding the speech for highlighting the country’s strides since Mr. Trump took office, said the president outlined an “optimistic and ambitious agenda” for the future.

“The economy is the best it has been in my adult life,” Mr. Toomey said, adding that the president deserves credit for “advancing pro-growth policies that have led to near record low unemployment, bigger paychecks for blue-collar workers and U.S. companies bringing $1 trillion back from overseas.”

The two parties, locked for months in a battle over Mr. Trump’s impeachment and a presidential campaign that will decide if he gives another address next year, could not find any consensus on the president’s central claim that the “state of our union is stronger than ever before.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle, DForest Hills, said Mr. Trump took credit for things he didn’t do, claiming the economy has been in an upward trajectory for 10 years now.

“To act like the country was in drastic position and he turned it around in three years is completely not based in any reality,” Mr. Doyle said in Washington at the conclusion of the speech.

But U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, countered that since Mr. Trump took office, 162,000 jobs have been created in Pennsylvania, unemployment is at a record low — which the president noted in his speech — and that the state is experiencing an “energy renaissance” for oil, natural gas and coal production.

“Tonight, President Trump showed us he has kept his promises and delivered real results for the American people,“Mr. Reschanthaler said in a statement. “Under his leadership, Pennsylvanians are benefiting from a red-hot economy that has led to tremendous new opportunities.”

Pennsylvania itself played a significant role in the president’s speech, with Mr. Trump calling attention to one of his own guests, Janiyah Davis, a fourth-grader from Philadelphia who was assigned to low-performing schools and whose future was impacted by Gov. Tom Wolf vetoing legislation last year to expand school choice.

“Janiyah, I am pleased to inform you that your long wait is over,” Mr. Trump said. “I can proudly announce tonight that an Opportunity Scholarship has become available, it is going to you, and you will soon be heading to the school of your choice.”

The legislation in question, which would have nearly doubled Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit program, was vetoed by Mr. Wolf because it “[strayed] from the original stated intent of the program — to lift people out of poverty — and [failed] to provide any additional accountability or oversight for the tax dollars being expended,” he said at the time.

Mr. Wolf also said at the time that the state’s public education system remained underfunded, and that addressing that problem “should be our collective priority.”

Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai, a Republican who sponsored the bill, tweeted Tuesday night that “we fight for students like Janiyah.”

“We can have thriving public school districts, public charter schools, and private and parochial schools available for our kids and parents,” he wrote. “Competition raises the quality of each, ensuring that the needs of every student and family are being met.”

Mr. Toomey, who directly asked Mr. Wolf to sign the legislation last year, praised the president for addressing school choice in his speech and said Janiyah “put a face to the problems facing Pennsylvania families who want to escape failing schools.”

None of the statements, like the president’s speech, specifically mentioned the ongoing impeachment proceedings.

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, RButler, said the address served as a call to members of both parties to set aside their differences and “build on the blue-collar boom that is providing so much opportunity for millions.”