A carefully curated guest list will underscore administration\u2019s hard line on transgender and immigration issues<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Donald Trump<\/a> addresses a joint session of Congress<\/a> on Tuesday night for the first time in his second term, the make up of the packed crowd will serve as a reminder of political tensions that frame both the administration\u2019s and the opposition\u2019s most contentious policy arguments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The carefully curated guest list, assembled by the White House and congressional leaders, appears like a roadmap for a competing cultural vision, touching on everything from transgender athletes, immigration and the federal worker purge \u2013 each with a story to tell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first lady, Melania Trump<\/a>, will host Allyson and Lauren Phillips, mother and sister of Laken Riley, a college student allegedly murdered by a Venezuelan migrant. Alongside them will sit Alexis Nungaray, whose 12-year-old daughter was killed by undocumented immigrants last June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two guests will underscore the administration\u2019s hard line on transgender issues: Payton McNabb, a high school volleyball player who claims to have sustained a concussion from a transgender athlete, and January Littlejohn, a parent who sued a school board over gender identity transitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the biggest name coming out of Trump\u2019s camp is so-called \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d leader Elon Musk, who has become more and more unpopular<\/a> by the week. He will be in the House chamber as a living emblem of the administration\u2019s most aggressive governance strategy that has the potential to cut hundreds of thousands of federal jobs across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senate Democrats are looking to send a counter-narrative, inviting federal workers recently fired under the administration and Medicaid recipients whose healthcare hangs in the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fired federal workers will include Alissa Ellman, a disabled veteran recently dismissed from the Buffalo veterans affairs office, who will attend as Senate leader Chuck Schumer\u2019s guest. Michael Missal, the former inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs, was invited by Connecticut senator Richard Blumenthal. Jason King, a disabled veteran fired from the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s safety division, will be a guest of Senator Tim Kaine. Andrew Lennox, a Marine veteran removed from a VA hospital administration role, was invited by Senator Elissa Slotkin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n