US Congress(WASHINGTON) — A liberal House Democrat from California plans to skip President Donald Trump’s address to Congress Tuesday evening.
Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., the ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee, told House Democrats Tuesday morning that she will not attend the speech because she doesn’t think she would be able to control herself, according to Democrats in the room for the caucus meeting.
“The president is not going to say what I want him to say,” Waters told ABC News in an interview after the meeting. “He’s gonna take credit for everything.”
Waters has emerged as one of Trump’s loudest critics on Capitol Hill. She has called his team a “bunch of scumbags” and said he is “leading himself” to impeachment.
Overall, Democrats have little appetite for causing a ruckus similar to GOP Rep. Joe Wilson’s outburst against President Obama in 2009. The South Carolina congressman’s “You Lie!” moment in response to a comment from Obama about health care was swiftly condemned on Capitol Hill as a breach of decorum.
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., said he doesn’t anticipate any organized protests during the remarks tonight from Democrats — though some will be wearing commemorative pins.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other Democrats are wearing white as a tribute to women’s rights and the suffragettes.
“We’re taking the Michelle Obama” route, Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., said. “We’re going to be as dignified as possible under the circumstances.”
“I think we intend to be polite, and listen and obviously comment afterwards,” said Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif. “There is a place for torches and pitchforks but not in the House of Representatives.”
Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth, who, like Waters, skipped Trump’s inauguration, plans to attend the speech Tuesday night to “show solidarity with my fellow Democrats.”
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