On February 4,2020 the State of the Union Address was given by Donald Trump, to the 116th U.S. Congress. The address covered a number of topics that President Trump plans to implement into the American Society for this upcoming year and to show people his vision for the United States. Since our president has been in office he has made a lot of considerable promises. During his address he talked about our economy, national security, and asked Congress to pass bills regarding abortion and prescription drug prices. Two of President Trumps key proposals was his United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) and his vision for health care reform.
When President Trump's administration started, Trump made the American people a promise to replace the NAFTA trade deal. On January 9th, 2020 he signed the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA). A more technical definition of the agreement is “It rolls back a special system of arbitration for corporations that has drawn bipartisan condemnation, and includes additional provisions designed to help identify and prevent labor violations, particularly in Mexico. Some of those changes were inserted at the insistence of Democrats, who used their control of the House to secure long-desired policy changes” (Swanson 1). In simpler terms the USMCA has made more car production, stronger labor laws in Mexico, less protection for drug companies and ending a special system of arbitration for companies.
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This trade deal has a lot of mixed views from different senators. One surprising positive reaction that I saw was from Joe Biden. A Biden campaign spokesperson told POLITICO “Biden does not believe that USMCA is an ideal deal, but supports it given the improvements that the labor and progressive movements won to improve it,” (Cassella). As a Democrat it was surprising to see him publicly support one of President Trump's major promises because when he was in office he did not make any public remarks about NAFTA. Another senator, Amy Klobuchar also talked about her view on the USMCA. At the December Democratic debate Klobuchar said, “I'll go with my friend, Sherrod Brown, who has voted against every trade agreement that's come in front of him, and he's voting for this, and I am, too. And the reason I am voting for it is that I believe that we have a change with this agreement. I would not have voted for the agreement that President Trump put forward, but we've got better labor standards, better environmental standards, and a better deal when it comes to the pharmaceutical provision, which I also opposed,”(Phillips).. She expressed her concerns and even brought someone else's opinion into the argument that this deal needed to be put into place.
Regarding this trade deal there was negative feedback from two powerful voices, Senator Bernie Sanders and Tom Styer. In January debate Sanders argued that 'we could do much better.' He listed environmental provisions as a main reason for his opposition towards the deal. In the Democratic debate Sanders said, 'Given the fact that climate change is right now the greatest threat facing this planet, I will not vote for a trade agreement that does not incorporate very, very strong principles to significantly lower fossil fuel emissions in the world,'(Des Moines Registar). Another strong voice that has an opinion on the topic was Tom Steyer. “Combating climate change must be central to any trade deal, because the threat is serious and it demands urgent, immediate action'(Politico). Both Sanders and Steyer have similar views that they do not support this deal because it does not contribute to helping the planet.
In the State of the Union Address President Trump talked a lot about health care reform for the United States. He said his plan is to make sure everyone has afordible health care and healthcare was available to those who have pre-existing conditions. The point that he made about pre-existing conditions made a lot of people raise an eyebrow because of what his administration has done in the past.
After President Trump gave his speech Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made a response to his proposal for a health care reform. On NBC News Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said, “Democrats are trying to make your health care better. Republicans in Washington are trying to take it away”(Shabad). Another Influential person who suggests Trump is lying is Nancy Pelosi. She called his Address a 'manifesto of mistruths' while discussing issues like medicine and pre-existing conditions. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said, “I think all of us wanted to scream after this speech, I’ve never seen such a disgraceful performance in all my years” (Diamond).
Even though there were many people that thought his speech was phony there were a number of republicans that thought he did great while ranting on health care. Republican Sen. Chuck is the one that supports a proposed bill titled HR3. This bill supports Trump's claims that were said in his address. A reporter and writer from Vox, Dylan Scott said, “Instead, Trump has aligned himself more with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, who has advanced a narrower set of reforms from his perch as the Senate Finance Committee chair...achieves pricing reform through a mix of technical changes to the rebates that drug makers pay under Medicare and Medicaid as well as provisions to cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors”(Scott). Mostly democrats want this bill to pass but Grassly is one of few republicans that think it should too. Passing this bill would show that Trump is really putting his neck out for the people and not just his party preference. This would satisfy his promise in his address.
Personally I think that the implementation of USMCA would be great. I do not know why anyone would be against it. The USMCA would not only help the United States Citizens with increase of jobs and american made items but it also helps out the Mexican labor laws. This agreement being taken place will make a more fair deal between Canada, The US and Mexico. I'm glad this was a major issue brought up because it pleased a majority of both Democrats and Republicans. I really wished he would have made his healthcare reform believable. Most people know about the bill H.R.3 Act that was made to lower prescription prices. It has not been passed yet because president Trump has not signed it. When he was giving his rant about health care you can hear democrats chanting “H.R.3 !”. This bill was received in the senate 12/3/2019 and is still sitting on a desk. One of my favorite things that Trump said during his address was “building the world’s most prosperous and inclusive society — one where every citizen can join in America’s unparalleled success”, I just wish he would implement more bills to allow people to be apart of our inclusive society.
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