Recap: Rep. DeSaulnier Holds Townhall in Antioch

On June 30, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier held a townhall in Antioch to discuss how Democrats are responding to stand up for the American people.

DeSaulnier says he has had more townhalls than any other member of congress in the past 10 years saying they have 235, while 70% have been in person.

“We don’t always have to agree. Sometimes I am wrong. I tell this to my colleagues and I am hoping we get back to that where we can have civil, spirited, rule based discussions,” said DeSaulnier.

Tidbits from the 58:45 minute townhall (watch it): 

DeSaulnier says right now, it’s as low as its ever gotten with maybe the exception of January 6.

Big Beautiful Bill

• Calls “Big, Beautiful Bill” the BUB bill, “Big Ugly Bill” and would be flying back to DC to vote on the bill. They made up this deadline, we didn’t go through the normal appropriations process because the President wants to sign it on the July 4 Holiday. Says this bill has been the biggest break away from process.

Protecting Americans from Republican Budget Scheme

• • The republican budget bill would harm millions of Americans and raise their cost of living in order to give tax breaks to the ultrawealthy by*:
    • Stripping health care away from 16 million Americans
    • Taking school lunches away from more than 18.3 million children
    • Reducing or eliminating the PELL Grants for 4 million students
    • Increasing the national debt by almost $3 trillion
    • Eliminating clean tax credits, which also would harm the environment
    • DeSaulnier opposes the budget bill, but it passed by a vote of 215-214 and is no under consideration in the senate.
  • DeSaulnier says he will be introducing amendments to the bill – including protecting education.
  • He called increasing the National Debt “really bad” and wanted a public process to debate the bill

Reassessing Congressional Authority in the Name of Peace

• • • Trump abandoned diplomacy and illegally attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities in violation of the War Powers Resolution.
      • Only Congress holds the power to declare war, and Trump’s attack were an act of war.
      • DeSaulnier says he sponsored the bipartias Iran War Powers Resolution to reassert Congress power to declare war and block the President from further strikes or escalation against Iran without explicit authorization from Congress or threat of an imminent attack.
      • Says we must return to a strategy of diplomacy to avoid more forever wars abroad.

“What he did was too impulsive and now getting, or analysis of success of that is expensive and have to question the wisdom of it. Nobody wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. If you go back to when Obama was president and met with all the negotiators, including from Russia, France, England, the major powers, we had UN inspectors on the ground. So we knew what they had, we don’t have that now because we broke away from that process,” said DeSaulnier. “I think that is a huge mistake because we would have been further along on the diplomatic sense and we would see what they have on the ground. If they threw us out, that is a different situation.”

He also shared one of the biggest successes of President George H Bush in the middle east, because he was an expert at foreign affairs, was building a coalition, so when they want into Iraq, it was so overwhelming.

DeSaulnier called going alone “doesn’t work well historically.”

Fighting the Administrations Cruel Immigration Policies:

• Trump ran on deporting “the worst of the worst” criminal undocumented individuals, but less than 10% of immigrants taken into ICE custody have had a serious criminal convictions.
  • Instead, ICE is targeting migrant workers, students, mothers, and fathers
• Elected officials have been toughed up and detained for conducting oversight of ICE activities.
• At the Concord Immigration Court, Ice has arrested individuals who were following the proper legal process and attending their scheduled hearings.
  • I strongly oppose this and sent a letter to the Acting Director of ICE urgently asking for information regarding misguided action.
• I sad in on Concord Immigration Court hearings to show my support for people who are seeking asylum.
• I have also worked to oppose Ice potential takeover of FCI Dublin.
  • I recently conducted an oversight visit at FCI Dublin and met with the BOP Director and reiterated that it is not a fit for human occupancy.

“The problem with immigration in this country is we do have a problem. I don’t know a Democrat, or anyone, who believes in completely open borders,” said DeSaulnier.

Standing Up to the Extreme Trump Agenda

• The administration has so far issued 164 Executive Orders.
• The judicial process is the most effective tool to stop Trump
• Over 303 pending lawsuits have been filed, and at least 191 court orders have been issued blocking or temporarily pausing Trump’s actions.
• Last month, Trump lost 96% of federal district court cases against his Administration and had a 78% loss rate in court cases during his first Administration.

Q&A Portion

What can we do to stop HR1 from passing? “Elections have consequences and we lost this election to a very aggressive group. We have to find 3-votes,” said DeSaulnier who added there is a lot of pressure on people. Says if they went back and talked about the bill and made some changes they would probably get his vote as he believes in efficiency, but not what Elon Musk did. He wanted the process—and do no harm. He would be submitting amendments and slow it down. If they did not get 3 republicans to switch, it will pass. He said it came down to winning elections and working together – but respecting people. He said we have to get back to a time when 320 million people respect each other.  He again urged a full debate.

How do you justify Californians commitment to providing taxpayer funded resources to undocumented immigrants while chronically underfunding treatments for homeless and veterans? He said he would go back to the Eisenhower era in taxes that were more progressive, largest growth in the middle class with upward mobility, but they taxed corporations and the wealthy higher and put it into the schools, systems, VA. There has been a long history of changing that, even though the total has gone up and grown and the GDP has grown, but the funding of services has gone down. He called it a decision up to the state but supported it while at the county and state because they are here, and federally they need to fix immigration. Says they need immigrants in the workforce.

Did the Supreme Court pass a law that lower courts cannot interfere with Trumps Laws? Supreme Court just decided, changing precedent, a federal judge cannot do a national injunction which will have serious consequences while changing the game. He says legal experts tell them it could have profound policy and procedural consequences.

Trumps Big Beautiful Bill Passed by 1 vote, is the House so dysfunctional that they cannot convince one moderate republican to vote against it? Do you even know 9 California republicans in the House and do you even talk to them? Yes, I talk to them frequently but its gotten harder. I’ve had a lot of conversation.  He discussed impact of Citizens United with spending on Independent Expenditures – which has created polarization which causes them to worry more about primary election vs. general elections. He says they are now worried about the primary and being vilified—he called it deliberately psychological and paralyzed people. He also pointed out Elon Musk now threatening to “primary” any republican who votes for the bill – he added he might like the result of this in this case, I didn’t like what he did before, but that is not democracy.

Do you support or oppose the president’s military strike in Iran and why? I do not support what he did in Iran—see opening comments.

What can we do to support industry type jobs, those jobs with trades that only request high school diplomas? He called this really important, refineries, chemical businesses, says they put a lot of effort in California to help with this—investing in career tech. Says you still need plumbers, electricians and in Contra Costa County has a world class trades union that supports continued education.

With layoffs, DOGE, and AI, how will we pay off the deficit if everyone is out of work? He stated they get value in federal employees, they need to let the public know noting many who could make more money in the private sector do it because they love to serve the community. He called the “DOGE thing” just stupid. You don’t go off and chop everyone off by 25%, instead, you evaluate and make decisions. Called it one of the dumbest things and counterproductive to efficiency. Says they need to value people who do good work—they need good teachers and attract them—not value them on stereotypes.

Previous

• June 10 – Rep. DeSaulnier Statement on ICE Raids in Contra Costa County
• May 30 – Rep. DeSaulnier Announces Advancement of $35 Million for Projects to Benefit Contra Costa and Alameda Counties
• March 13 – DeSaulnier Statement on Trump Administration Gutting the Department of Education