Trump calls for unity; extends ‘an open hand’
‘We have faced challenges,’ president says in State of the Union speech
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump offered a vision of a united and industrious America during his first State of the Union speech Tuesday night, trumpeting achievements such as sweeping tax cuts in his first year in office and promising more results on U.S. infrastructure development, immigration policy and more.
Speaking in the ornate U.S. House chamber, Trump spent the first half of his 85-minute speech recounting the accomplishments of his first year in office.
“Over the last year, we have made incredible progress and achieved extraordinary success,” Trump said. “We have faced challenges we expected, and others we could never have imagined. We have shared in the heights of victory and the pains of hardship. We endured floods and fires and storms. But through it all, we have seen the beauty of America’s soul, and the steel in America’s spine.”
Early in his address, Trump said the U.S. has added 2.4 million new jobs — including 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing — during his first year in office, while long-stagnant wages have started
to rise. He credited tax cuts for corporations and individuals that he signed into law in December as further spurring the U.S. economy.
“We enacted the biggest tax cuts and reforms in American history,” Trump declared to a standing ovation and cheers from Republicans in the audience. “Our massive tax cuts provide tremendous relief for the middle class and small businesses.”
The White House contends Trump’s tax cuts have triggered an economic windfall for many American businesses and their employees, and are already leading to job creation. Democrats counter that the cuts were targeted primarily at wealthy Americans and will pile more than a trillion dollars onto the U.S. debt.
Trump’s White House foreshadowed a speech heavy on themes of unity — and the president mostly delivered. But the ornate U.S. House chamber simmered with tension. Democrats angry about Trump’s immigration positions — including Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico — invited young immigrants whose future in the U.S. are in flux due to Trump’s decision to cancel an Obama-era program that allowed them to stay in the U.S. legally.
Some Democratic women wore black to the speech in a show of solidarity with those who have been victims of sexual harassment. And at least a dozen Democrats didn’t attend the speech at all, citing disgust with Trump over a range of issues.
On immigration, Trump recounted a four-point plan he introduced last week in Washington. The plan calls for eliminating the visa lottery for immigrants, curtailing family-based immigration, providing $25 billion for a border wall and other border enhancements, and establishing a path to citizenship for about 1.8 million young immigrants — so-called Dreamers — who are in the U.S. because their parents brought them to the country illegally when they were children.
He described the plan as “one where nobody gets everything they want, but where our country gets the critical reforms it needs.”
“Tonight, I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties — Democrats and Republicans — to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed,” Trump said. “My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American dream — because Americans are dreamers too.”
Noting that “America is a nation of builders,” Trump also called on Congress to fund a $1.5 trillion plan to rebuild America’s roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
“I am asking both parties to come together to give us the safe, fast, reliable, and modern infrastructure our economy needs and our people deserve,” Trump said.
Among the guests of honor in the House chamber Tuesday night was Albuquerque police officer Ryan Holets, who gained international fame last year after he and his wife, Rebecca, adopted a baby born to a heroin addict. On Tuesday, President Trump honored them during his State of the Union speech in Washington as the couple sat next to first lady Melania Trump.
“The most difficult challenges bring out the best in America,” Trump said, while recounting the story of how Holets came across a pregnant addict preparing to shoot heroin in Albuquerque and offered to adopt the baby on the spot. “We see a vivid expression of this truth in the story of the Holets family of New Mexico. Ryan and Rebecca: You embody the goodness of our nation. Thank you, and congratulations.”
The president also said he was “committed to fighting the drug epidemic and helping get treatment for those in need” on Tuesday night, but he offered few specifics about his plan for battling the scourge.
“We must get much tougher on drug dealers and pushers if we are going to succeed in stopping this scourge,” Trump said.
Trump also asked Congress to fully fund the U.S. military and nuclear weapons program.
“As part of our defense, we must modernize and rebuild our nuclear arsenal, hopefully never having to use it, but making it so strong and powerful that it will deter any acts of aggression,” Trump said.