On Tuesday, the Republicans announced their speaker for the State of the Union response. The next day, the far-left Working Families Party did the same… and they chose a member of President Joe Biden’s own party to criticize his message.
Specifically, the Working Families Party tapped Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America who was elected to the House in 2018 as part of the “Squad” that included Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Usually, only the opposite party responds to the president’s State of the Union. However, the Democrats have responded to their presidents’ addresses before. Specifically just last year, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., responded to Biden’s address… again on behalf of the Working Families Party.
Tlaib confirmed the news to Politico, which obtained a summary of her planned remarks.
According to the summary, Tlaib plans to credit the “progressives” for all Biden’s legislative accomplishments.
“No one fought harder for Build Back Better and a pro-democracy agenda than progressives,” Tlaib said in a statement to Politico.
Tlaib herself voted against Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure law in November, along with five other members of the House Progressive Caucus. She defended her “no vote” later that month during an interview with Detroit’s NPR station as a protest vote.
Nonetheless, Tlaib is expected to blame the elusive “moderate Democrats” for stalling Biden’s ambitious Build Back Better Act, a trillion-dollar bill for the environment and social programs.
Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell plans to “name names.”
He told Politico, “We’re going to be clear about who and why the agenda is incomplete. There are particular political actors — of course Republicans, but then a very niche, small group of obstructionist Democrats.”
In other words, Tlaib is expected to bash moderate Democrats like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Rep. Jason Gottheimer of New Jersey. Manchin stopped negotiations over the B.B.B’s huge price tag, and Gottheimer demanded to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill before the B.B.B was passed and threatened to kill the Congress’s budget plan otherwise.
Tlaib also plans to focus on electing more “progressives” to Congress.
“We need to get as much done for the people as we can this year, and elect a majority that can deliver for working families in 2023,” she told Politico. “The work is unfinished and we’re not giving up on what our communities deserve.”
Some congressional Democrats — like Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia — have blamed Tlaib’s “defunding police” slogan for harming Democrats in swing districts.
Tlaib represents a heavily Democratic district. In her first election to the House, the Republicans didn’t even run anyone against her.
In 2020, she won her district with 78 percent of the vote. However, Biden and Clinton both won that same district with 79 percent, and Obama won it with 85 percent… twice.
It remains unclear whether redistricting will affect Tlaib’s electoral prospects.
Tlaib is scheduled to speak Tuesday over a Livestream on the Facebook page for the Working Families Party.
The Horn editorial team