Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal urges democrats to act now 

In the midst of a tumultuous news cycle, with the potential erosion of key institutions, and the struggles faced by various marginalized communities, the timing of Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal’s Northwest Seattle neighborhood town hall was particularly poignant. The meeting was a platform for concerned citizens to voice their fears and grievances, and for the Congresswoman to address these pressing issues.

The town hall was held in Ballard, an affluent, predominantly white neighborhood of Seattle, and was packed with emotional, distraught, and nervous people struggling to grapple with President Trump’s administration’s decision-making.

A climate scientist was moved to tears as she shared the devastating news of losing 40 percent of her team. Her emotional testimony underscored the grave long-term economic consequences of the current political decisions.

On the brink of motherhood, a pregnant woman expressed her fear and uncertainty. She worried about the availability of vaccines for her child, a concern that may force her to seek medical care in another country.

A mother of an LGBTQI child shares her sentiment of fearing for her child’s physical and psychological safety as gender-affirming care is getting removed.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal delivered a passionate speech that not only highlighted the urgent need for political and civic engagement but also proposed concrete actions to address the concerns raised. These actions included advocating for the rights of veterans and civil servants, defending free speech and dissent, and protecting the rights of immigrants, trans people, and vulnerable communities.

 

“We facilitate greed in this country by having an unequal tax system.”

“We need a real fix to the immigration system; it hasn’t been reformed in 30 years.”

“This is a great country. It’s a country that allowed a sixteen-year-old girl with nothing in her pocket, an immigrant from India, to come to the United States by herself and become your United States Congresswoman.” 

Congress updates

Pramila Jayapal: Let’s start with what happened last week in Congress. The funding deadline is actually a year delayed because we haven’t been able to agree among the Democrats and Republicans. We are operating under an ‘operating resolution’—where you extend the time so both parties can come to the table and reach an agreement. That deadline was Friday; if we had agreed, the government would have shut down.

Ahead of that agreement, Republicans and Democrats worked together to reach an agreement. Senator Patty Murry (great senator from the state of Washington), and Senator Susan Collins on the republican side, member from the House side were all working together to reach an agreement – the Republicans pulled out of the negotiations, and they put forward a partisan spending bill — this was not a continuing resolution – it did not leave the levels the same. It actually increased the level of defense spending and cut the levels of domestic spending.

It cut veterans care, public safety, airline and food safety, and housing. They then said that you will shut down the government if you disagree. How does that work? When you have control of the House, the Senate, and the White House – you are the party that governs – hence, it is your responsibility to get the votes you need. I’m very proud that in the House, under Hakeem Jeffries’s leadership, everyone except one Democrat voted “no” on that bill. That was quite a feat.

Mass deportation and Immigration Rights

Jayapal: It’s stunning to me how people think that Trump is doing a decent job on immigration. It is because its effects have not been felt. People actually don’t want mass deportation; they only answer yes to the polling question if you don’t give them another option. If you provide them with the option of mass deportation OR humane immigration reform that includes border security and reforms that work, they will always pick the latter.

We still have a lot of love for this country for immigrants. People remember their ancestors; they remember their old stories. They believe that immigration is good for The United States. The answer is to reject the cruel solutions – we are a humane, dignified country because of the benefits and contributions of the immigrants.

We need a real fix to the immigration system; it hasn’t been reformed in 30 years. The caps that we have are from 30 years ago! I think we should have fairness for US citizens to allow their spouses and their kids to be here with them and have passed citizenship.

People who have been here for more than 10 years and don’t have any criminal convictions and have just been working, let’s give them a path to citizenship, and let’s reform the immigration system that actually works for everybody. I have to be in opposition mode in Congress but also say what our solution is—we are saying yes to a bill that helps invest in the border.

Destruction of key democratic institution 

Jayapal: Piece by piece, the current administration is destroying all the checks and balances. Article 1 of our constitution says that the Congress has the authority to appropriate funds – and the president does not. And yet – things that we appropriate, such as USAID, Veterans Health care, capital/infrastructure projects, and science and research- are being eliminated. While the Department of Education has not been eliminated, the Trump administration is cutting the staff so dramatically that they won’t be able to function.

The threat is to slash social security and Medicare – which Elon Musk has called ‘the big entitlements’ that we must eliminate. They are not entitlements! They are earned benefits! You pay into them and get out of them when you retire. The $400 trillion tax cut they want requires that they slash $880 billion from Medicaid.

These decisions have caused a lot of confusion on how we move forward. We have to use every lever in our toolbox to prevent the terrible things they want to do. Nobody wants to shut down the government.

We Need a Strategy 

Jayapal: Democrats need an effective strategy. Strategy – which is you. In countries where dictators and authoritarians have taken over, the only check on that is the public. In many of these countries, democracies fall not over the years but over the course of months.

We need an organized, coordinated public movement that is strategic and smart to push back on all this. And you all have to be a part of that. There is no other way – I can’t do it in Congress because I’m listening to it. I can use my platform, and you can also use it. You are the key to our success, and your civic engagement is crucial.

Resistance Labs

Jayapal: We are launching our first training program, ‘Resistance Labs’, which aims to educate people about the strategies and tactics used when dictators take over. This training is crucial in preparing us for effective pushback against the current administration’s policies.

Mobilization and voter participation

Jayapal: We believe in human dignity for people. Whether It’s immigrants, trans communities, or the poorest people amongst us, we believe in standing up together for everyone. So we need record participation among democrats across the country, and hopefully from a bunch of independents and republicans – because many see that this is not what they signed up for. We need to welcome them into our party and our coalition; focus on the 90 to 100 million voters across this country who are eligible to vote but don’t because they don’t care about them. We have to mobilize them. Our unity and inclusivity are our strength, and we need to stand together for our shared purpose.

Call to Action

Jayapal: As a first step, I urge you to make a list of 10 people you know in Republican districts or states and ask them to talk to their members of Congress. Their voices are crucial in expanding the group we are talking to and influencing policy decisions.

Second, educate yourself on nonviolent resistance, and that’s what Resistance Lab training is.

Thirdly, remember, your engagement is crucial. If you’re feeling tired, take a break and take care of yourself. But don’t leave forever. We need you. If you’re feeling strong, reach out to someone who feels vulnerable. And if you’re vulnerable, ask somebody to help. All of that is real. That’s why we’re doing these town halls. We want you to be in the community, to have these discussions, and to reach out to people on either side of you. Let’s remind each other that we’re here, and we’re in this together. Together, we can save our country.

Alternative communication channels

Jayapal: We have to form our own communication channels. I love being on your channels, CNN and NBC, but that can’t be the only way we communicate. We have to be on different forms of media – social media and podcasts that have nothing to do with politics, but we bring politics in. Frankly, we need to create our own echo system, our own chamber of communication, just like the right wing has. Because even our social media has been taken over.

Many people across the country are thinking about how we can do this better and ensure we communicate with people. A few of us in Congress have large social media followings – some really large, like Alexandria and Berney. I’m in the top 10, which is crazy. It’s not enough, it has to be broad. Not just communicating with bots and trolls.

Vaccinations 

Jayapal: It’s so unfortunate that all this misinformation is being spread. If you make a choice, it affects people who are immunocompromised. We must tell people about science. Even some Republicans are with us in this fight. I grew up in India; if I didn’t get my vaccines, I’d be dead. No question in my mind about that.

Loss of knowledge. Loss of people in the scientific and climate communities

Jayapal: Everything that is happening has long-term consequences. Even if we stop or restore some of these cuts, the damage, the people we are losing, and the knowledge that we are losing are going to be irreplaceable. One of the things that scares me is that no matter how much we do right now, we are going into a hole. We are losing scientists and fellow workers who have been experts in their field. We are not going to have that knowledge.

We’ve never been in this situation, and we’ve never had somebody who wants to be king. We don’t have kings in America. I was down last week after the shenanigans in the Senate, so I went and looked at all the original documents. I was just reminded that democracy was really messy; even then, it was great at the same time. It was a radical experiment, and we held on to it. But we are in the throws of something really serious.

Gender Affirming Care for Minors

Jayapal: We must recognize that this community is 0.05 of 1% of Americans. What kind of bullies go after 0.05 of 1% who are just trying to live their lives. This is not about transpeople, it’s not about bathrooms, it’s just about bullies. We have to fight back against that, and we have to protect the science of gender-affirming care. We also must recognize that many people don’t know, so we should invite people into conversation. My daughter started talking about it, and I didn’t understand it at first. I love her no matter what.

Affordable Housing 

Jayapal: There’s nowhere in the country where you can afford housing if you’re on a minimum wage. Childcare costs are now outpacing housing costs, and the increase in housing has outpaced inflation. We’re lost on every angle here—not just in the building of it but also on the vouchers and rentals.

Medicaid supports the most vulnerable communities who are disabled. We must keep lifting up the benefits of Medicaid.

Private equity bought up a senior center and turned it into luxury housing instead of affordable housing. We are looking at legislative solutions around senior housing. I have made it a priority to invest in affordable housing through so many of the community-funded projects — it was part of ‘build back better.’

Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation despite being a green card holder

Jayapal: It is ludicrous to say that if you disagree with a view that it is a foreign policy threat. Our free speech rights have been protected, whether it’s for things that are incredibly horrific and disagreeable, like KKK marching through town, or it’s Nazis saying appalling things, or whether it’s disagreements on the war in Israel and Gaza. You cannot deport somebody if you disagree with them. They are not a foreign policy threat because they launched protests on a college campus. We got over 100 letters signed by Congress in over 48 hours. This is not about Israel and Palestine, this is about the free speech rights of America. If you are going to curtail the free speech rights of one group of people, you can quickly curtail it for anybody else. It is our constitutional right to protest and air our views.

Pay Your Taxes, billionaires! 

Jayapal: They are being cruel and chaotic to distract us from the fact that the big thing that they are trying to achieve is a $400 trillion tax cut. I don’t think we have a problem in this country of scarcity; we have a problem with greed. They would like to blame the immigrant, the trans person, or the poor person when it is that it’s the billionaires who are responsible.

They are taking your taxpayer dollars—a tax on consumers—imposing tariffs, and slashing the programs and benefits you rely on. Trump has also eliminated the consumer protection payroll.

We facilitate greed in this country by having an unequal tax system. Someone recently asked me how I feel about Jeff Bezos moving out because we’re charging too much in taxes in Washington State. I said, “Bye-bye!”

We moved from the 49th most progressive state to the 50th. That’s horrifying when you have hundreds and millions of dollars of wealth, and an average Amazon worker is earning $37000 a year. We are a rich country, and we don’t begrudge people’s wealth, but when it means that so many people are poor and struggling to provide profit for those people to get rich, that’s why I have the ultra-billionaire tax act that Senator Warren. If you earn over   $50 million, you pay only two cents per dollar – -it’s about paying your damn fair share.

Congresswoman Jayapal concluded with her personal, inspiring journey in America.

“This is a great country. It’s a country that allowed a sixteen-year-old girl with nothing in her pocket, an immigrant from India, to come to the United States by herself and become your United States Congresswoman.”  – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal.

Author’s concluding note

It’s so heartening to see a fellow person of color in a position of influence and power who is dedicated to relentlessly fighting for vulnerable populations, immigrants, and trans communities. Any immigrant would attest to this—the journey to US citizenship is not just a financial and physical burden, but also an emotional one. Living far from your loved ones is challenging in itself but adjusting to a new culture, way of life and finding a safe space of belonging are just as painstaking.

As a first-generation immigrant and a proud Pakistani American, I felt this deep sense of belonging and pride when I watched Congresswoman Jayapal single-handedly uplift and inspire a room packed with emotional, distressed, and nervous Americans. But the question remains – is her singular effort enough? Where are other democrats? Why are they silent?

There’s a pressing need for the Democrats to have a clear, cohesive, and consistent message, coupled with coordinated and strategic mobilization, where they present themselves as a united front, just like the right wing has, and act now.

Maheen Mustafa reported this feature. She is a social impact journalist, global strategist and founder of MTG, a Seattle-based media outlet and production house that aims to elevate and amplify BIPOC and immigrant narratives and perspectives through impactful storytelling. Maheen’s beats are social impact, wellness, culture, climate, race and global news. Twitter: @MaheenM_.