February 28, 2017

Duckworth Previews President Trump’s First Address to Congress

 

WASHINGTON, DC - In advance of the President's Address to a Joint Session of Congress, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released a statement calling on the President to follow up on his promises to serve hardworking families and offer a positive vision for our country. Duckworth delivered her statement alongside her guest at President Trump's address tonight, Abdulla Sindi.

The statement in high definition is available here and the transcript is available below:

"The American people deserve a President whose word they can trust, but President Trump's broken promises are adding up quickly and it hasn't even been two months!

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"He's broken his promise to fully remove himself from his business empire, creating a number of potential conflicts-of-interest. He's broken his promise to fight for Midwestern farmers and his offensive rhetoric has caused Mexico to threaten the livelihoods of American farmers with retaliatory economic policies. He's shown little interest in keeping his promise to pursue the kinds of infrastructure investments that would create good-paying jobs and put many Americans back to work. And despite pledging to 'drain the swamp,' he's filled his cabinet with unqualified, poorly-vetted and ethically-challenged nominees.

"To top it all off, the President-who has never served in uniform and thinks he knows better than Generals with real combat experience-said that our troops 'don't fight to win' anymore. Well, as someone who fought to protect his right to say offensive things, I have a message for President Trump. Our troops do fight to win, but if the Commander-in-Chief believes they don't, then he should tell the American people why he's ordering them to remain in harm's way.

"Tonight is the President's first Address to a Joint Session of Congress and I've invited Abdulla Sindi to be my guest. Abdulla, who is here next to me, is a refugee from Iraq who was forced to flee for his life after he helped U.S. troops enforce the no-fly zone following Operation Desert Storm. Abdulla became an American citizen in 2006 and he immediately signed up to serve our country, training National Guardsmen before they deployed to Iraq and working as an interpreter in Iraq to help keep our Troops safe. Had a discriminatory policy like President Trump's Muslim travel ban been in place at that time, Abdulla never would have been able to come to America and contribute to our national security. His presence here tonight sends a powerful message to President Trump: hardworking immigrants and refugees make our country a better place.

"I hope the President realizes this and he uses his speech tonight to quickly change course and offer a positive vision for our country. Then he needs to follow it up with action-otherwise his broken promises will keep adding up."

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