by Rich Smith
A bad photo of a good night for supporters of Congresswoman Jayapal. Although, "Please stay engaged" feels a touch too Jeb for the "opposition party." RS
On Monday evening, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (WA-7) held her first ever town hall in front of a packed house at Seattle's appropriately named Town Hall. "I love town halls!" she exclaimed as she strolled onto the stage wearing a red blazer, carrying herself with all the charm of a happy warrior. In her opening speech, she framed Democrats as the "opposition party," not the minority party, and enumerated her swings at the Trump administration: her challenge to the electoral college vote, her refusal to attend the inauguration, and her newfound attention to the Emoluments Clause. Throughout the night, attendees—nearly 80 percent of whom stood up when asked if this was their first town hall—held up green sheets of paper that read "AGREE" as they cheered on the freshman Representative. The red sheet of paper that read "DISAGREE" did not receive much play.
You can watch the whole thang right here ^^.
Earlier that day, Trump signed an executive order that Jayapal calls "Muslim Ban 2.0," and Republicans began to roll out the details of their American Health Care Act. Jayapal's list of top priorities addressed these two issues right away, and, judging by the vigorous nodding and affirmative "mhmms" that went around the room, the crowd seemed satisfied.
Jayapal said her number-one priority was health care. She specifically advocated for a "medicare for all system" and noted her support for a "Medicare for All" bill. An earlier version of that bill languished for two years in the subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs before being reintroduced this year and then sent back to the same committee.
After health care, she listed the following among her main concerns: "Islamophobia, the muslim ban, civil rights more broadly, issues around the LGBTQ community," backward steps on criminal justice, "protecting our democracy" by investigating Trump, attacks on the free press, and, finally, meeting with her constituents and trying to secure federal funds for projects like mass transit.
Republicans who have chosen to fulfill their duty to host public meetings have been met with pointed criticism and reams of tragic healthcare stories from constituents. Some, including all Washington State Republicans, have ducked town halls altogether for fear of creating "YouTube moments" that might make them look like monsters for attempting to take away healthcare. But Jayapal's very blue town hall, held in a very blue district, created several posi-vibes YouTube moments that supporters can share around forever.
Seriously, the lighting was so bad. But Jayapal's town hall was basically a rally / happy hour / mid-evening Xanax for liberals concerned about Trump's agenda. RS
The crowd took a shine to the youths in particular, who asked several policy-oriented questions. Phoebe, 14, got a lot of love from Jayapal and everyone else after Enrique Cerna, KCTS reporter and moderator for the evening, read her question about the Democratic plan to save the ACA despite their paucity of votes. In her response, Jayapal said she thinks the Republicans are “really vulnerable” on healthcare, citing constituent pushback at town halls, House Republicans “nervously talking” about potential negative affects of the replacement bill, and four Republican Senators who came out against the bill for essentially slashing money from Medicaid.
During the open mic question period, Phoebe was given the opportunity to ask a second question. She called Republican propositions to deport immigrants for "very small crimes" unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment and wondered if there was anything Jayapal could do to stop them before they're approved.
"We are going to have to use every tool in our toolbox plus ones we don't even know exist," Jayapal said in her reply, before summarizing the list of horrors that compose the Department of Homeland Security's memo regarding new immigration enforcement guidelines. As for a direct answer to Phoebe's question, Jayapal, an immigrant herself, noted her involvement in civil disobedience on this issue but deferred to the "fabulous group of immigrant organizations around the country" working to resist those measures. "It's going to be a lot of pain as we go through this, I just can't lie about that," she added.
Jamie, 15, stepped up to the mic and described herself as a climate activist. She asked whether Jayapal thinks Republicans would budge on the issue of climate change. The congresswoman reiterated the lack of legislative tools that congress has at the moment to solve the problem, but added that "there may be some room for renewable energy technology [investment], particularly because there's some rural interest in that."
Then Sam, who is "10—no, 11!" took the mic and said he was concerned about his transgender parent. "I'm worried about Republicans' dis-, discrimo-, discri—certain policies"—the crowd lovingly cheered his series of mispronunciations and witty self-correction—"such as the bathroom bill." He then asked what she'd to do protect trans rights. On the bathroom bill and other transgender issues, Jayapal said she stands with Gavin Grimm, whose Supreme Court case was recently vacated and returned to lower courts, and said she'd do everything she could to support them.
Adults asked questions too, of course. One man asked, given Jayapal's role on the House Judiciary Committee, how she could "steer Congress toward an independent investigation" of Trump. The subtext here is: What are you going to do to ITMFA?! In reply, Jayapal referenced her support for Rep. Jerrold Nadler’s Resolution of Inquiry 111, which calls for the Department of Justice to "provide the House of Representatives with any and all information relevant to an inquiry into President Trump and his associates’ conflicts of interest, ethical violations—including the Emoluments Clause—and Russia ties." Though the resolution is likely to die in committee, Jayapal says that the Trump administration's connections to Russia will "be a big part" of its downfall, if it goes does indeed go down.
"I would be lying if I told you we were going to win on everything. We're not. We're going to have a lot of losses," Jayapal said. But, she insisted, the appropriate response to these losses is to keep writing letters to representatives, keep talking to friends and family members in red districts, and maybe even consider running for office.
Guriqbal Singh, who had never been to a town hall before, strongly connected with Jayapal Monday night. "It’s nice to see that somebody you’ve elected wants to hear your concerns and wants to go back into the field and voice your concerns.”
Guriqbal Singh, 28, was moved by Jayapal's performance.
He didn’t get a chance to ask his question publicly during the meeting, but he caught up with Jayapal later on and asked her what she plans to do about the rise in hate crimes around the country, a subject that hit home for him recently when a xenophobic "stocky white male" shot a Sikh man in his driveway in Kent. She told him representatives are planning to do a vigil in front of the White House and that she’ll talk more about that issue in subsequent town halls.
"Everybody’s scared," Singh said. “They’re thinking [Sikh] people are Muslims, but they’re targeting any brown person."
"My mom said I shouldn’t come here tonight, but I said, ‘Mom, I have to go. If people are getting shot in their driveway, the only other option is to stay in the house. I can’t be staying home," he added.
Singh encourages people who feel the need to terrorize immigrants to do some root cause analysis: "If you really want to shoot ISIS, join the military and go fight for the country. You’re shooting the wrong people."
Rather than being deterred by this terrorism, however, Singh says he's now motivated to get into politics and maybe even run for city council 10 or 15 years from now.
Laura wanted to ask @RepJayapal to stand up for Intersex rights. As we were taking, they saw Jayapal and asked Q. Left feeling reassured. pic.twitter.com/Ty648y7bkC
— Rich Smith (@richsssmith) March 7, 2017
Jayapal even reassured, albeit indirectly, a MAGA-hat-wearing constituent named Forrest. He told me his support for Trump was "not ironic" and said he stood in line at the microphone to express his concern that Jayapal's rhetoric on Russia might lead to World War III or Cold War II, both situations he'd like to avoid. After a member of Jayapal's staff told him that she and other Democrats aren't trying to beat the war drum for Russia, he felt less worried.
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