When the Trump administration officially takes office Friday, Republican legislators should reciprocate calls on Democrats for national unity, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin said at a Thursday press conference.
Soglin said if Republicans—especially those who didn’t treat President Obama fairly during his eight years in office—are calling for unity under Trump; they also have to be open to working across the aisle.
“There has to be reciprocity and consultation in consideration for the people in this country who do the work and not just for the rich and the influential,” Soglin said.
Soglin said the new White House administration, which is composed of numerous billionaires and Wall Street elites, raises particular concern for the future of certain populations.
“We have many individuals [in Trump’s cabinet] who come from industries that have exploited the resources of this country, both natural and labor,” Soglin said.
Just returning from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, Soglin said regardless of the success of an immigration reform resolution passed there this weekend, Madison will not become a “deportation agent” under Trump. The emergency resolution, authored and supported by both Democratic and Republican mayors, calls on Congress to quickly move to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation.
Soglin said there is a bipartisan agreement from mayors across the country that the federal government cannot ask cities to detain and hold undocumented individuals solely for the purpose of deportation.
There is also universal agreement among mayors on what needs to be done before stripping the Affordable Care Act, Soglin said. Mayors from both parties agree there must be a plan and a program in place before anything is repealed.
Anticipating major national reductions in healthcare coverage, Soglin said Madison was ahead of the game in local initiatives to insure more people, adding that citywide enrollment efforts over the last three months have “made a difference.”
“There are two goals to that activity,” he said. “One is to get people who are eligible covered, and the second is to demonstrate the growing need for affordable health coverage in the United States.”
