Former Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and immigration activist Astrid Silva will speak on behalf of Democrats in the televised response to President Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday.
Beshear is a logical choice for Democrats whose rebuttal is likely to denounce Trump’s plans to repeal and replace Obamacare.
In Kentucky, Beshear helped establish health insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act. Beshear expanded Medicaid coverage under the law and has fought to try to keep the programs in place under his successor, Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.
“Under Governor Beshear’s leadership, Kentucky became one of the great success stories of the Affordable Care Act in delivering quality, affordable health coverage for all,” Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Friday. “Governor Beshear is an experienced job-creator and a uniquely credible voice on the devastating consequences of Republicans’ plans to Make America Sick Again for families across America.”
Silva is one of the public faces of so-called Dreamers who arrived here illegally as a child, and is advocating for a path to citizenship for those living here illegally.
Silva will deliver the Spanish-language response, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a Friday announcement.
The two lawmakers have been vocal in criticizing Trump’s move to accelerate and expand deportations of illegal immigrants who have committed crimes, and they have argued Trump is aiming to deport everyone living in the U.S. illegally, including rising stars like Silva.
“While President Trump unleashes a cruel deportation dragnet on hard-working immigrant families, Astrid Silva personifies the values that have always made America strong,” Pelosi said.
Silva came to the United States illegally with her parents when she was five years old. She was a headline speaker at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
