Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-NY) praises Gov. Spanberger’s State of the Union for reflecting Virginia’s struggles—soaring housing costs and healthcare gaps—while slamming President Trump’s divisive address, calling claims about affordability deceptive amid rising groceries, utilities, rent, and healthcare prices. He mocks Trump’s tariff push post-Supreme Court ruling and dismisses immigration rhetoric as performative theater, highlighting billionaires’ prosperity under policies that burden working families. Kennedy argues Americans see the economic divide clearly, rejecting partisan spectacle. Meanwhile, Small Business Inspector General William Kirk testifies on fraud in pandemic relief programs during a 2:30 p.m. Eastern Senate hearing, exposing systemic failures in aid distribution. [Automatically generated summary]
Before we let you go, your newly minted governor, Abigail Spanberger, giving the response to the State of the Union.
What were your impressions of her response?
Governor Spanberger hit her home ride.
I mean, she was spot on.
She talked about the realities of what's happening in places like Virginia, where people are seeing high housing costs, where people are seeing a lack of access to health care.
And so she had a plan and she put forward her vision.
And she's implementing that vision in Virginia right now in Richmond.
And so I think she's the future of our party.
She's someone who gets the solutions and she knights our party.
So I think people are really impressed by her speech and we're looking forward to more from her.
Virginia Democrat Suhas Subramanian joining us for this conversation.
Impressions from last night's State of the Union address.
To Representative, thank you for your time this morning.
Thank you.
Today's Small Business Inspector General William Kirk and a pandemic response oversight official testify on potential fraud in small business relief programs.
Watch the Senate Small Business Committee hearing live at 2.30 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
We're getting reaction to the State of the Union from members of Congress.
Representative Tim Kennedy, Democrat from New York, member of the Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs Committees, serves the 26th District of New York.
Representative Kennedy, good morning.
Morning, Pedro.
What was the takeaway from last night?
American People's Pain00:04:26
Well, unfortunately, it was exactly what we expected.
More division, more hate, more lies from the President of the United States in a time where we are looking for unifying our country and moving our country forward.
This president continued his consistent lies to the American people.
And it's unfortunate that my congressional Republican colleagues just totally embraced all of that hate.
And so, you know, we're looking for better days ahead.
You know, when we're talking about what the American people are suffering through right now, this affordability crisis brought on by President Trump and congressional Republicans' failed policies over the last year.
I believe this president totally missed the mark in this speech last night.
How would you identify some of the lies or what lie specifically stands out according to your mind?
Well, I mean, the president stood there in front of the world last night and said that the cost of living across this great nation is becoming more affordable.
Everyone knows that's just not true.
The costs of groceries have gone up.
The cost of utilities have gone up.
The cost of rent and housing has gone up.
The cost of health care has skyrocketed.
And then the president doubled down on his tariffs that have driven up costs for the American people.
Trump's tariff tax that was just ruled unconstitutional by his own hand-picked Supreme Court justices.
And then what does he do?
He puts in new tariffs just to inflict more financial pain upon the American people.
And then he tries to tell the American people, while he's kicking millions of people off of their health insurance and kicking millions of people off of nutritional assistance, that their lives are better, that their health care is better.
It's just totally unfounded and preposterous.
And the American people are smarter than what this president thinks they are.
He thinks the American people bought his nonsense last night.
And I have news for him.
They certainly did not.
When you were in the chamber, there was that portion where the president asked those standing up when it comes to this idea of sanctuary cities and immigration, what was your position and how did you react to that?
The president thought that this was theater last night.
To him it was.
This was a show for him.
Stand up, sit down.
One of your callers was just mentioning the Republicans.
You know, they couldn't help themselves jumping out of their seat, hanging on every word that he said.
It was embarrassing to watch what the Republicans were doing left and right.
I mean, I had colleagues of mine on the other side of the aisle last night telling me how tired their legs were from standing up and sitting down.
It was outrageous.
The bottom line is the American people are hurting right now.
And they are hurting.
They're having difficulty paying the bills.
They're having difficulty putting food on the table.
And they're having difficulty affording health care because it's been decimated by this president and congressional Republicans.
And what did they do last night?
They took a victory lap for the chaos and the dysfunction that they have perpetuated upon the American people.
And so we weren't going to participate in this president's performative nonsense.
Do you think there's potential political damage from that video of Democrats not standing up?
Do you think that plays out going into midterms as well?
They're going to try to make it political.
They're going to try to make it theatrical.
They're going to try to tell that is the story for the American people.
The American people are smarter than what Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are trying to sell to them right now.
People know firsthand that working families in this country that are struggling to pay the bills are dealing with an affordability crisis that is of generational proportions.
At the same time, billionaires in this country, because of the failed policies of Trump and congressional Republicans, are making out just fine.
So there is a huge divide between working class citizens in this country and the billionaire class.