Former Montana Rep. Zinke takes helm of Interior Department

In his first address to a joint session of Congress, Trump said largely what GOP leaders were hoping to hear Tuesday night, staying on-message and talking in optimistic tones In his first address to a joint session of Congress, Trump said largely what GOP leaders were hoping to hear Tuesday night, staying on-message and talking in optimistic tones The initial reaction signaled that Trump faces a fight with the GOP on the $1 trillion-plus portion of the federal budget that is passed each year by Congress. The initial reaction signaled that Trump faces a fight with the GOP on the $1 trillion-plus portion of the federal budget that is passed each year by Congress.

Democrats in speech rebuttal say Trump will ‘rip’ away care

In this Dec. 1, 2015 file photo, then-Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear speaks in Louisville, Ky. Beshear took a populist tenor in Democrats’ formal response to President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017, accusing him of planning to “rip affordable health insurance” from Americans and being “Wall Street’s champion.”

Democratic response pitched to middle-class white voters who went for Trump

Former Gov. Steve Beshear, D-Ky., followed up President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress late Tuesday surrounded by white, presumably middle-class Americans in what may have been an appeal to a demographic the Democratic Party lost to Trump in the election. Beshear sat casually at a table inside a diner in Lexington, Ky., while he lectured Trump on how his actions as commander-in-chief have hurt the working class in his red state.

Twitter mocks Democrat response

Twitter lit up late Tuesday night to mock former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who delivered a stilted response to President Trump’s speech from a coffeehouse. Beshear appeared to be picked to respond because he’s from a working-class state that Democrats are now desperately looking to win back.

Ahead of Trump speech, McConnell takes swipe at Beshear on Obamacare

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took a swipe Tuesday at former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, the Democrat chosen to deliver the party’s response to President Donald Trump’s speech tonight to Congress. Beshear, governor from 2007 to 2015, championed the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in Kentucky, and he was tapped in part as a rebuttal to McConnell , a Kentucky Republican who’s one of the law’s biggest foes.

Activist to address immigration, health after Trump speech

An activist who will deliver a Democratic response in Spanish to President Donald Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday plans to address his administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants and the need for affordable health care. The remarks from Astrid Silva, a so-called Dreamer who was brought into the country illegally as a child, will come as Trump’s efforts have spread anxiety among immigrants and led many to fear arrest.