New Congress member sees signs of hope amid ‘chaos’

Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo ran on the slogan “get things done” in his campaign for the 16th Congressional seat, which represents the Los Altos area. But the Democrat is finding out that doing so is challenging with the U.S. government dominated by President Donald Trump and the Republicans.

Instead, Liccardo has to opt for small victories. Like helping a veteran at the Palo Alto Healthcare System get his job back amid the recent waves of federal job terminations. The Trump administration March 4 fired Daniel Sandecki, a disabled U.S. Army vet, from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. But Liccardo’s alert on social media resulted in an outcry that had the feds reverse the decision just a few hours later.

“This is amateur hour at the White House – a bunch of reckless rookies at DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) have fired more than 2,400 employees in the VA system,” Liccardo said in a statement. “By rescinding Daniel’s termination, DOGE admits that he should never have been fired in the first place. This isn’t saving any money, it’s chaos.”

One of Liccardo’s first pieces of legislation was inspired by Trump: The MEME Act (Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement), introduced last month, would prohibit federal officials from issuing digital assets and securities.

“After President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump made a windfall on their respective meme coins, experts sounded the alarm about the glaring ethical concerns,” Liccardo said in a statement. “Although the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibits federal officials from receiving gifts from foreign nationals, offshore investors – particularly in China – benefited wildly from the early-hour trading of the $TRUMP meme coin.” 

Liccardo told the Town Crier later: “Not only did Trump get rich, we know that he and his family made more than $100 million in fees. There were 800,000 investors who have lost about $2 billion in valuation in the pump-and-dump scheme.”

At this early stage, Liccardo is pragmatic about getting much done.

“It takes the majority of Congress to act, and the American people have voted for a Republican majority that is unwilling to stand up to this president,” Liccardo said. “So all of the legislation in the world that I and my colleagues introduce won’t matter if we can’t find colleagues on the other side of the aisle willing to stand up against the cult of Trump.”

Liccardo said he’s spent “a lot of time in quiet conversations and in the house gym at 8 p.m., and in elevators with Republican colleagues, who quietly admit they are deeply frustrated for a host of reasons. … I’m spending a lot of time, playing part advocate, part psychologist, to encourage the growth of stronger spines. In the meantime, I’m doing legislative work in various ways to curtail the worst impacts of what we’re seeing from this administration.”

For example, Liccardo’s co-sponsoring legislation that would force Republicans to vote on the Trump tariffs “that are going to cause American households to pay between $1,200-$2,000 or more a year for necessities like groceries.

“We know that will not pass this week or this month, but we’re already seeing (Trump’s) numbers drop, his poll ratings. If we start to see his popularity drop into the 30s, there will be increasing opportunities to bring along members of the opposing party who will feel emboldened to actually stand up for the privacy of taxpayers and for constitutional protections.”

Meanwhile, a government shutdown is set for Friday, unless averted.

Liccardo said all the concerns over cuts into programs like Medicaid and Social Security are valid, and the administration is using untrue assertions (tens of millions over age 100 on Social Security when the number is actually 89,000) to justify cutting waste.

“Obviously we know that if there are going to be any real savings, then real people are going to have to be hurt,” Liccardo said.

Looking ahead, Liccardo said: “We are going to be spending a lot of time listening in communities throughout the districts to identify the top priorities around capital needs and infrastructure, where community funding grants can help local towns and cities to be able to, for example, reduce wildfire risk in the hills of Los Altos or stem the impacts of coastal erosion in Pacifica.”

Liccardo spent time locally this past weekend, holding a forum with the Peninsula Democratic Coalition Sunday at the Garden House at Shoup Park.

The Congressman urged constituents not to give up hope.

“The way that we defeat project 2025 is with project 2026,” he said. “We are only three seats down in the House of Representatives, and the surest way to force a lame-duck presidency and some balance in the government is to retake the House. So I’m spending a lot of time focused on how, particularly in Silicon Valley, we can be a force both for a more balanced approach to governance in Washington, as well as a Congress that will be more supportive of the innovation economy.”

Meanwhile, Liccardo and others are trying to limit the damage. More than 40 court injunctions have been issued to freeze layoffs to federal staffs.

“We’re seeing real significant success in pushing back on the administration through a whole host of public actions,” Liccardo said. “We’ve seen the administration propose tariffs, pull back tariffs, propose tariffs, pull back tariffs. Over the course of the last 35 days, we’ve seen the administration fire 750 employees at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and then announce the rehiring of them. I could go on and on. 

“Look, we know that this is a mess of an administration, and I’ve seen better organized riots, but it’s important for folks to know there are significant gains being made in containing the damage. … We’re going to be focused on issues that are most important to the American people, above anything else, it’s the fact that millions of families are struggling to afford to live in their communities. Right now, we’ve seen nothing from this administration to help them to do so, and in fact, we’ve only seen the opposite.”