STATE

Trump in Austin: Democrats rebuke Trump over economic policies

Riane Roldan, rroldan@statesman.com
The Texas Democratic Party and Texas AFL-CIO, a state labor federation, held a roundtable event Wednesday with Democratic state lawmakers, local elected officials and Texas workers ahead of President Donald Trump's visit to Austin. [RIANE ROLDAN/AMERICAN-STATESMAN]

Democratic state representatives and local officials, flanked by labor leaders, airport workers, electricians, public school teachers and other workers, gathered Wednesday ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to Austin to denounce Trump administration policies that they said largely have hurt working class Texans while cutting taxes for wealthy people.

The roundtable, held at the headquarters of the Texas AFL-CIO in downtown Austin, came just hours before a presidential visit to an Apple Inc. manufacturing facility.

“We're here today to talk not about Apple or (CEO) Tim Cook,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler. “We're here to make sure that we're talking about how the president's economic policies are failing Texas workers and workers around the country.”

In 2018, Texas was one of nine states that saw widening gaps between rich people and poor people, according to inequality data compiled by the Census Bureau. Texas also again ranked first in the nation in percentage of residents lacking health insurance.

“These are shameful data points,” state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, said. “And that's the Republican leadership in this state ... they own these data points ... but our working Texans are those who bear the brunt of them every day.”

Alex Murphy, a teacher and member of Education Austin, a local teachers union and affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, said the economy has left teachers behind.

“It's not a secret that teachers are not paid a wage that is livable,” Murphy said. “So when the administration cuts taxes for the wealthy, cuts taxes for corporations, that eviscerates the funding that we have for public services like education at the state level.”

Murphy said educators had to fight “tooth and nail” for a $6.5 billion boost in public school spending and teacher pay raises, approved in May and signed into law in June.

Texas AFL-CIO President Rick Levy said people shouldn’t “get distracted by the shiny lights” of the president’s visit.

“Obviously we're excited about the growth of Apple or any company that brings good paying manufacturing jobs to this community,” Levy said. “But ... that is not the whole story. The photo (opportunity) highlighting one corporate decision to bring jobs to this community doesn't outweigh the massive damage and wreckage that's occurring in other parts of this state and this country.”