The gains in the stock market that the president touts haven't helped average Americans, she says.
ADVERTISEMENTWASHINGTON — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will say in the Democratic response to the President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech on Tuesday night that Republicans are not helping average Americans by improving health care and helping people get by financially, according to early excerpts of her remarks.
Whitmer will note how she juggled working a new job while caring for her newborn daughter and her mom who had brain cancer.
"It was hard. It exposed the harsh realities of our workplaces, our health care system, and our child care system. And it changed me," she says, according to her prepared remarks.
As a state senator, Whitmer says that she worked with a Republican governor and state Legislature to expand health care coverage to more than 680,000 Michigan residents.
"It's pretty simple. Democrats are trying to make your health care better. Republicans in Washington are trying to take it away," she says.
Whitmer adds that it "doesn't matter" what Trump says about the gains in the stock market because millions of people are struggling to pay for prescription drugs, student loans and transportation.
"American workers are hurting. In my own state. Our neighbors in Wisconsin. And Ohio. And Pennsylvania. All over the country," she will say, according to her prepared remarks. "Wages have stagnated, while CEO pay has skyrocketed."
Whitmer has served as Michigan's governor since January 2019. She previously was as a county prosecutor, and the minority leader of the Michigan Senate.