A president’s speech to Congress — even without the formal gloss of a State of the Union address — is typically a time for a call to national unity and predictable claims about the country being strong. But that wasn’t President Donald Trump’s plan.
His speech on Tuesday night was relentlessly partisan, boasting about his election victory and criticizing Democrats for failing to recognize his accomplishments.
One of those Democrats is Minnesota 2nd District Rep. Angie Craig who says she's wary about President Trump's proposed tax cuts following Tuesday night's address. Craig tells the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar she didn't hear enough from the President about how to lower costs for the middle class.
"Hey, if you take all those tax cuts for the top, you know, 3%, 5%, and move them into tax cuts for the middle class in our country, I'd be happy to sit down and talk about that," Craig explains. "But that's not the bill he's putting forward in Congress. And as long as that's not the bill, he's not going to get my support."
Minnesota's 6th District Representative and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer sees it differently.
"The Biden administration left the U.S. economy in shambles. But there is hope— @POTUS has already secured $1.7 trillion in investments made to bring manufacturing back to our shores and is fighting daily to make America affordable again," Emmer posted to social media.
With prices for certain things continuing to rise, including groceries, Craig says she hasn't heard enough from the president about how to help middle class people pay those bills.
"I think that what I didn't hear enough of last night from the president was his plan to actually lower costs for the middle class in this country," she says. "And how are we going to put more money in the pockets of the middle class?"
Craig say she won't support Trump's proposed tax cuts unless those cuts for the "wealthy" get diverted into tax cuts for the middle class.
Trump puts blame on Biden for egg prices
The president did give voice to a frustration of many Americans over rising costs of groceries — particularly the skyrocketing cost of eggs, but blamed Biden instead of the bird flu.
“Joe Biden especially let the price of eggs get out of control — and we are working hard to get it back down,” Trump said.
His agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said last week that egg prices could still soar more than 40% this year.
The main reason egg prices have increased to a record average of $4.95 per dozen this month is that more than 166 million birds have been slaughtered to limit the spread of bird flu that has overwhelmed flocks around the country.
The administration announced the USDA will invest another $1 billion on top of the roughly $2 billion it has already spent battling bird flu since the outbreak began in 2022.
Trump presses forward with tariff fight
The president has long viewed the stock market as a lodestar. But he ignored Wall Street losses that wiped out gains since the November election.
The stock market has been tumbling as Trump enacts tariffs on Canada and Mexico, critical trading partners that have been retaliating with their own levies. The dispute threatens to increase costs for American consumers even as the president promises to bring down prices.
Trump showed no interest in backing off, describing tariffs as integral to his political agenda.
“Tariffs are about making America rich again and making America great again. And it’s happening and it will happen rather quickly. There will be a little disturbance, but we’re ok with that.”
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said she plans to announce retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. on Sunday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier on Tuesday diagnosed Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports as simply “a very dumb thing to do.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.