New England's mostly Democratic Congressional delegation reacted harshly to President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address on Tuesday night.
Massachusetts Rep. Joseph Kennedy III gave the Democratic response, criticizing the Trump administration for failing to look out for all Americans.
“It would be easy to dismiss the past year as chaos. As partisanship. As politics. But it’s far, far bigger than that," he said. "This administration isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us – they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection."
"At the #SOTU President Trump talked about putting our country first," Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal added on Twitter. "We simply cannot have an “America First” agenda that does not lift up ALL Americans from ALL walks of life."
"Just out of #SOTU. Ugh," Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said on Twitter. "If you were hoping for a unifying speech, you got the opposite. Pep rally w GOP on tax reform, ACA repeal. Over the top demonization of immigrants. No mention of Russia."
New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan said Trump touched on many important issues in his speech, "but we've unfortunately seen this script before from him - lots of big promises, but little action to back them up. That’s why what counts is not his words, but what he does tomorrow and in the days that follow."
"Talk is cheap," Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton said after the president praised American troops in Afghanistan. "If POTUS is serious about supporting our troops he’ll start to actually show it."
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey said Trump's proposal to expand America's nuclear arsenal "is needless, destabilizing, and increases the risk of nuclear war. In the 21st century, our national security would be better served by funding education, not annihilation."
"President Trump can say he’s for uniting instead of dividing the nation. He’s said it before," Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy said. "But after a year of intensely divisive actions, petty insults and disgraceful race-baiting, those words ring hollow by now."
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"I went to the #SOTU. I wanted it burned into my eyes," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said on Twitter. "If there’s ever a moment when I’m too tired to keep fighting, I just have to close my eyes & see @realDonaldTrump , @mike_pence & @pryan applauding themselves for punching working families in the gut, & I'm back in this fight."
