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President Donald Trump is set to deliver his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, before a joint session of Congress. Lawmakers are allowed to invite guests to join them and many use their invitees to make political statements.
Last February, Democratic women wore white to President Donald Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress. “There was so much — and still is — agitation about the president and our fears of what he was going to do to the women of our country and the world,” Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), chair of the Democratic Women’s Working Group in the House, told Vox this month.
As President Donald Trump delivers his first State of the Union on Tuesday, a few issues will stand out in the crowd. Members of Congress each get one guest ticket for the address. While some use them for family or friends, others bring a guest who puts a face to an issue they’re pushing.
In 1971, twelve members of the United States House of Representatives and the delegate from Washington, D.C., founded the Congressional Black Caucus, in order to better represent the interests of black Americans. President Richard Nixon initially refused to meet with the Caucus, which in turn boycotted that year’s State of the Union address.
At least eight members of Congress plan to bring sexual assault survivors or activists to the State of the Union address Tuesday night. Many of these lawmakers said the Me Too movement, which has shed light on sexual harassment and other gender-based misconduct across various industries, had inspired them to invite their guests. Others said they hoped to remind viewers that at least 21 women ha
White House officials are saying the theme of President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union will be "a safe, strong, and proud America." With the president's track record of going off-topic, we won't know for sure until he takes the stage on Tuesday at 9 p.m. But some of his most outspoken opponents in Congress know exactly what message they want to send and how to deliver it.
Most of the country first heard the name Recy Taylor during Oprah’s now-iconic Golden Globes speech. Taylor was gang-raped after being abducted by six white men while walking home from church in 1944 and reported the crime to no avail. “Recy Taylor died ten days ago,” Winfrey said, “just shy of her 98th birthday.
When Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, he'll be confronted by an issue that dogged his 2016 campaign and continues to resurface during his presidency: allegations of sexual harassment. Lawmakers are making a statement at arguably the President's biggest speech of the year amid a nationwide reckoning about sexual harassment.
Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones announces her bid for Congress to represent the people of Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.
Several Michigan Democrats are making statements against President Donald Trump’s policies by their choice of guests for Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Among the announced guests for the speech are the wife of a deported Lincoln Park man, a labor union official and the spouse of a detained Iraqi Christian.