Rep. Haley Stevens: State of the Union ‘Divisive,’ Should Focus on Education, Infrastructure
Rep. Haley Stevens speaks with WDET’s Russ McNamara on the State of the Union, impeachment and working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens was in the House chamber watching President Trump deliver his third State of the Union Address Tuesday night. She spoke to WDET’s Russ McNamara about the speech and the state of politics in Washington DC.
“I think that a lot of the rhetoric was very divisive. And it was unbecoming of the office.” – Rep. Haley Stevens
Click on the player above to hear Rep. Haley Stevens on Trump’s State of the Union.
On the tone of the speech
“I’m not going to dance around it. I think that a lot of the rhetoric was very divisive. And it was unbecoming of the office. We’re going to hope for better days.”
On the topics covered
“You could tell it was an election year. And there was a lot of references to the past administration and it took, it seemed like almost 30 to 40 minutes for public education to come up. We didn’t hear much about infrastructure. I mean, here we are in Michigan, right? We need an infrastructure deal.”
On prescription drug costs
“My goodness, we did the prescription drug bill. That bill even included some ideas from the president. So we were sort of dumbfounded when, you know, it got rejected so abruptly by the Senate. Now, they still have time to take it up. They should. And we’ll continue working on our end to try and break it up. We’re gonna move because the costs are still too high.”
On working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
“With McConnell, I’ve tried to go talk to him. I got put with the Deputy Chief of Staff. It’s a very unusual and frankly hurtful approach. This is what’s frustrating right now, the design of the Senate wasn’t to be the ultimate stalemate held by one individual, from one state.”
On the Democratic presidential primary
“I’ll tell you, I’m excited about all the candidates I watch. Mike Bloomberg is making some big investments in Michigan. I’m going to give him credit for that. And I’m also going to say though, that all our candidates have a Democratic vision with so much to offer. It’s a ‘for the people’ agenda.”
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