Rep. Jayapal would attend SOTU if Trump ‘adhered to basic moral values’
Jan 30, 2018, 8:43 AM
Rep. Pramila Jayapal. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Congress member Pramila Jayapal of Seattle is on the list of Democratic members who will skip President Trump’s State of the Union address, saying that it won’t advance the interests of Washington’s 7th District — or anyone.
“My refusal to attend the State of the Union is not about policy differences, of which I have many,” Jayapal tweeted. “I would attend a State of the Union by a president with whom I disagree if I felt she or he was otherwise respectful and adhered to basic moral values or basic tenets of civility.”
Jayapal wrote an op-ed in Medium laying out the reasons for her absence.
The Washington representative is being joined by at least seven other Democratic lawmakers in the boycott of the president’s address, including Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, John Lewis of Georgia, Frederica Wilson of Florida, Gregory Meeks of New York, Maxine Waters of California and Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.
“Rather than listening to yet another destructive and divisive speech by Trump, I will not attend this year’s annual address to Congress,” said Blumenauer, who skipped the Trump inauguration.
Jayapal also skipped the inauguration in January 2017 and, after initially trying to bring people today, began distancing herself from the president.
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