Listen to the full interview here, or read the transcript below:
Eddie Rye Jr.: Welcome to Urban forum Northwest with your host, Eddie Rye Jr, and we have a very important person from the Pacific Northwest on right now, the illustrious councilmember, Councilwoman, Congresswoman from the 10th Congressional District of Washington State, the former Mayor of the City of Tacoma and Maryland Strickland. Welcome Congresswoman Strickland. And, like before we came on the air, I said she still got a smile on her face, in spite of everything that’s happening in D.C. But as she says, you’re from where?
Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland: I’m from Tacoma, and I know how to scrap
Rye: Alright, now that’s what I want to hear. Well, Congressman Marilyn Strickland, why don’t you just share with a little bit of what’s going on about there? And I see now that people are finally hitting the streets. Everybody knew what they were going to get when they voted or they when they didn’t vote. So just share with our listeners a little bit about what’s going on and what you and Congressional Black Caucus and other Democrats are doing to counteract some of the insanity that we hear and see every day.
Strickland: Well, thank you for having me on the show, Eddie. I was just at an event, you know, off campus, off the Capitol here, and we were talking about the fact that it’s only been a few weeks, and it feels like it’s been three months already. And you know, there’s so much happening coming out of this administration. I call it the Musk Administration, because Donald Trump has pretty much turned over the keys to the White House to Elon Musk. And, these executive orders are coming in rapid fire succession, as you know, and they’re basically just trying to flood the lane so that we are confused, chaotic, and we chase every transgression. As a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Asian Pacific American Caucus, I know that there’s some things we have to do. We have to focus. We cannot chase everything. And so, you know all these executive orders that are coming out that are against diversity, equity, and inclusion. These orders that are coming out that are just tearing down agencies, trying to fire federal employees. And one of the things I think people sometimes overlook in this is that federal employees employ a lot of people from our community. Whether they are veterans, who are postal workers, people who work at the VA. So, a lot of important functions and services. These are jobs often held by black people. And, so as we talk about our strategy, we have to obviously speak out about it. But we’re doing three things when it comes to how Congress is reacting to this. We’re mobilizing, we’re legislating, and we just dropped a bill, the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, and I’m going to talk a little bit more about that later. And then litigation. As members of Congress, we don’t have a technical term called ‘standing to sue’, but outside agencies like Democracy Forward are filing lawsuits. There are 24 lawsuits that are in play already, and there are more to come. But you know, we knew this was going to happen. We talked about this last year. And to your point, earlier, when people are saying to us, ‘do something’, our chance to do something was November 4th, 2024. And you said earlier, when you opened the show, the people who chose to vote for Donald Trump or chose not to vote at all, we were telling people exactly what was going to happen, and he’s doing it right now in real time. With that said, here we are right now. We need unity. We need to speak out, but we need to be effective, because the end game here, the north star, Eddie, is to make sure that we win the 2026 House election and make Hakeem Jeffries our speaker.
Rye: Absolutely, and also have a democratic-led Senate as well. So, when we look at the way the Senate looks right now, in 2026 is it mostly Democrats running?
Strickland: You know, I can’t tell you with certainty who’s running in the Senate, because my focus is so much on the House. And, you know, right now, I mean, honestly, it’s going to be hard for either party to ever get to what you call that 60, that threshold of 60 senators, which, you know, basically makes the filibuster void. But I will say this, though. When we’re able to control the House, then we have the opportunity to introduce bills and kind of dare people to vote against it. So, you know, we want to do what we can to preserve and protect the things we fought for, for our communities, and then also go on offense and talk about what we want for our communities. Donald Trump claimed that he was going to be a good president for the African American community. We don’t have four years to wait around to see what happens. So, is he going to invest in housing? Is he going to invest in HBCUs? Is he serious about preserving the Minority Business Development Agency, which does a lot of work for black-owned businesses? What will he do for our people? Because by just complaining and not having an agenda, we’re actually being negligent, because we don’t have four years to wait. Our people still have needs right now, and we need to make sure that he understands and the Republican majority understands what it is we expect from them.
Rye: What would you suggest people in your district and people in Washington state do to help bring about some changes and reinforce what you’re trying to do?
Strickland: So I would say a few things. You know, ever since these executive orders have been coming out in rapid speed. The offices of Democratic lawmakers have been flooded with phone calls and emails, and people are rightfully afraid and worried because there’s so much at stake people’s lives, livelihoods, food, housing, those things are on the table, Social Security and Medicare. But what I tell folks is the Democrats are on your team. By only focusing on Democrats and not focusing on Republicans, you’re giving them a free pass. So, continue to engage with us. Let us know what you’re worried about and how we can be helpful, but bring some of that smoke to Republicans, especially Republicans who are in swing states, because they’re the ones who have to walk a very fine line, and as we’re dropping bills, it will force them to think, ‘Wait a minute, maybe I better vote for this, because it’s the right thing to do’. So, engage with us. Keep talking with us. Let’s come up with a strategy, but also bring that smoke to the Republicans, because if you only target Democrats, you are giving them a free pass and letting them off the hook, Eddie.
Rye: Now I must admit that over the past couple of days, I’ve seen a huge turnout of people all across the country, in terms of Republican senators and other Republicans offices as well.
Strickland: Yeah.
Rye: Is that something that we need to do? Do we need to come to your office, and show, we support what Congresswoman Strickland is doing? How can we help support the effort? Do we need to email folks? Show up? What do we have to do?
Strickland: Yeah, again, I come back to, you know, email folks, show up. But again, make sure that Republicans are your targets, just as much as anyone else, because they are the ones who control the House, the Senate, and the White House. They’re the ones who can pass laws or keep bad things from happening. And I will tell you, you know, honestly, I’ve talked to some of my colleagues on the, you know, here in here in Washington, D.C., Eddie. And there are Republicans who are saying, ‘What on earth is going on?’ So, they know this is wrong. They know this is crazy. I want to talk a bit, though, about the Taxpayer Data Protection Act, because as you all heard, the U.S .Treasury has been taken over by Elon Musk. He has brought in some minions, like 20-something year old men, and they are now going to have access to all of our private data. We’re talking about social security numbers, dates of birth, banking information, addresses, and why do they want that information that is a complete violation of our privacy. So, the Democrats introduced today the Taxpayer Data Protection Act that will forbid them for getting access to those files.
Rye: Now, will the Republicans support that? Or are they afraid of being primaried by Donald Trump?
Strickland: You are so spot on, right? Because, what happens? Whenever Republicans want to do the right thing, Donald Trump will start to threaten them. Now I will say the last election cycle, he really wasn’t successful. And you know that they’re Republicans who won their seats, and they had to flip a seat from blue to red. What does that mean? They can’t be extremist if they’re going to win and be successful. And so, what we are seeing is every Democrat will sign on to the Taxpayer Data Protection Act. All we need are three Republicans. Three. That’s all we need. If three Republicans get on board, then we can protect the American people. And remember all this craziness happening, the executive orders, tearing down DEI, coming after people’s information. It is not doing a thing to lower the cost of goods. It is not doing a thing to make us more safe. Not doing a thing to strengthen our economy. So, all these promises that Republicans and Donald Trump made, they lied. People are being bamboozled, hoodwinked, and played because he said he’d do one thing, and he’s doing the exact opposite now that he’s in office and has turned over the keys to the White House to Elon Musk.
Rye: Is there anything that anyone in Congress, in the House or the Senate can do to reign Elon Musk in? Is Elon Musk a U.S. citizen?
Strickland: He is a US citizen because they ran him out of South Africa. But, its interesting –
Rye: South African, apartheid-lover. Okay, I got it. He’s bringing apartheid to the United States, okay.
Strickland: Yeah, they said, “No thank you’. But you know, again, I tell folks like, you know, make sure you’re reaching out to the offices of Republicans, because when we don’t do that, we don’t hold them accountable. Call and flood the lane and tell people, please support the Taxpayer Data Protection Act that was dropped today, that was introduced today. And then also too ask folks, ‘why does Elon Musk need my private information?’ How dare you violate my privacy. It’s unconstitutional, it’s illegal, and it should not be done. And then again, lots of lawsuits that are happening with outside agencies. One of the lead agencies, Eddie, is called Democracy Forward, and they’re initiating a lot of lawsuits with some of these illegal and unconstitutional acts. So again, mobilization, legislation, litigation. This is what we’re doing to try to fight back against Donald Trump, Elon Musk and these crazy executive orders that are coming out. And I want to point out one thing too, while we’re distracted by all this, there are people being sworn in. There are people who are being confirmed by the Senate to be part of our big agencies, right? Tulsi Gabbard, right, national security. That woman is a national and global security risk. She should have no business. And so, while we’re distracted, over here, they’re doing all these things. So I tell people, you don’t take your eye off the ball, because they’re trying to confuse us. We can’t chase after everything, but we can be focused. Housing, jobs and justice. That’s what the CBC wants. We will have an agenda that we will put forward, and in the meantime, let’s focus where our efforts make sense for our community, but not get distracted in chasing everything, because that’s their whole plan – is to distract us and confuse us.
Rye: I want to see if Hayward Evans has one question, since we’re almost out of time, go ahead, Hayward.
Strickland: Hi Hayward!
Hayward Evans, Co Convener, Seattle King County Marin Luther King Jr. Commemoration/Continuation Committee: Hi Congresswoman, thank you for being here with us. Yeah, I do have a concern and question.
Strickland: Okay.
Hayward: The federal employees that are resigning, are they long-term civil servants who’ve worked on both sides of the aisle? And, what’s going to happen to their replacements?
Strickland: Yeah –
Hayward: Will they be Trump people?
Strickland: Yeah. I mean, that is such a good question, because, you know, remember, he allegedly offered these early retirements with some kind of a payout. They don’t even have the authority to do that, number one. Number two, you know, it’s when you are a long-time, dedicated public servant, and someone comes in to run your agency who you know is bad. Your inclination is to say, ‘I don’t want to work for this person’. But then, a part of me says to people, ‘Don’t let them run you out of here. We need your wisdom. We need your expertise. We need you to dig in and say, this is wrong. You’re not going to get me out of here’. And so I understand why people say ‘I’m leaving’. And at the same time, I encourage federal employees, if they can, don’t let them run you out of here. You’re doing the right thing. You stay there, you do your job. You know what’s right. But I will admit that. I’m sure it’s not an easy thing to do, but that’s the way we fight back. We don’t let them run us out of here. We say, ‘No, I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay here, and if you try to fire me, I’m going to sue you’.
Rye: And that’s, you know, that’s a real good one. Do you have any of the public employees, I see where some of the FBI agents have filed a suit. Are you aware of the fact that any other government employee organizations that represent individuals about any kind of litigation?
Strickland: Yeah, I think that there’s some lawsuits that are happening with some of the unions that are taking place, and they’re getting outside counsel to help them. And so again, you’re going to see a lot of lawsuits come up. You can’t just, well, especially when people have union contracts, right? You really can’t do that. And so, I think the conversation is going to be, you know, how do we fight back? How do they get legal representation? Because, again, they’re going to be a lot of lawsuits. And I want to point one thing out too. You know, we’ve had a couple of wins already when Donald Trump tried to get rid of birthright citizenship, which means that you may have a parent who’s not from here, and they may be undocumented, but if you are born in the United States, you have U.S. citizenship. He was trying to get rid of that. Two judges, one in Seattle and one in Maryland, said, ‘That’s illegal. You can’t do that’. The other thing he tried to do was he wanted to raise tariffs and get into a trade war with Canada and Mexico. There was such outcry from the business community, from farmers, and from consumers, because it would have jacked up our prices. He pulled that back. That’s another loss that Donald Trump took. He tried to defund all these grant programs that was going for housing, and food, and all those important services. He had to pull that back. And so again, when we speak up, when we speak out, when we target the people responsible, they you know, sometimes they have to pull back because they know it’s bad politics. So, at the end of the day, we got a long two years coming up, we’re going to stay in the fight, but again, mobilize, legislate, litigate. This is how we handle it. It’s a three-prong way to handle both going on offense and defense. But this is our best, you know, and this is the best way for us to fight against Donald Trump. But of course, the most superior way and the most effective way, will be taking the house back and giving us some power and making Hakeem Jeffries our speaker.
Rye: Well, Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, thank you very much for your time today…
Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland (WA-10) serves on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. She is Whip of the New Democrat Coalition, Secretary of the Congressional Black Caucus, the first African-American to represent Washington State and the Pacific Northwest, and one of the first Korean-American women elected to Congress.
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