Trump promises Congress ‘new chapter of American greatness’
● President adopts more restrained tone in first speech to US politicians
US president Donald Trump has issued a broad call for overhauling the nation’s healthcare and boosting military spending, swapping his trademark pugnaciousness and personal insults for a more restrained tone as he addressed Congress for the first time.
Heralding a “new chapter of American greatness”, the president said: “The time for small thinking is over.”
He still employed dark language to describe the threat posed by “radical Islamic terrorism” – a term his own national security adviser rejects as inflammatory – and warned against “reckless” and “uncontrolled entry” of refugees and immigrants from countries with ties to extremist groups.
But Mr Trump’s overall message on immigration, one of his signature campaign issues, was unexpectedly mixed.
He said “real and positive immigration reform is possible” and had suggested to journalists earlier he was open to legislation that could provide a pathway to legal status for some of the millions of people living in the US illegally.
In his hour-long address, Mr Trump defended his early actions in office and ignored the mis-steps that have set even his allies in Washington on edge. He was unusually measured as he outlined a populist agenda centred on promises to compel companies to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US.
The president was greeted by enthusiastic applause as he entered the House chamber. Most Republican legislators have rallied around him since the election, hopeful that he will act on their domestic priorities which were blocked during Barack Obama’s eight years in office.
Topping that list is undoing Mr Obama’s signature healthcare law. Mr Trump outlined his priorities, including ensuring that those with pre-existing conditions have access to coverage, allowing people to buy insurance across state lines and offering tax credits and expanded health savings accounts to help Americans purchase coverage.
But he suggested he would get rid of the requirement that all Americans have insurance coverage, saying that “mandating every American to buy government-approved health insurance was never the right solution for America”.
Democrats sat silently while Republicans stood and cheered.
Delivering the Democrats’ formal response after the speech, former Kentucky gov- ernor Steve Beshear accused Mr Trump of planning to “rip affordable health insurance” from Americans and being “Wall Street’s champion”.
The president was vague in his call for tax reform, another Republican priority. He promised “massive tax relief for the middle class” and a reduction in corporate tax rates, but glossed over how he would offset the cuts.
The president also urged Congress to pass a trilliondollar (£800 billion) infrastructure package financed through public and private capital. “The time has come for a new programme of national rebuilding,” he said.
First Lady Melania Trump sat with special guests on hand to amplify the president’s agenda, including the family members of people killed by immigrants living in the US illegally.
Meanwhile, at least a dozen Democrats brought as their guests young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children.