Suzanne Bonamici, one of Oregon’s six congressional representatives, came to visit Cleveland’s leadership class on Friday, May 2. She spoke for a bit about her job and her experiences working for the federal government – especially in the midst of a Constitutional crisis – but spent most of her time graciously answering the many questions students were given the opportunity to ask. She touched on several issues she’s currently facing, the bulk of which pertained to protecting education. 

Bonamici’s experience working under President Donald Trump has been vastly different compared to her past years as a representative. 

“I started during the first Trump Administration – this time is different. We have the whole ‘Project 2025’ playbook, but also he has been emboldened, particularly by a Supreme Court immunity decision saying that the President is immune from responsibility or liability during his term in office for official acts. But also, there are fewer people around him who will put a check on him,” Bonamici said.

The Congresswoman has tried her best to work through the many unexpected and harmful decisions he’s made so far, but it’s proved difficult to deal with such a force. “This is the most challenging time since I’ve been a policymaker,” Bonamici said.

It can seem like he’s unstoppable, but as she said, “We have a president, not a king.”

One of the more recent examples occurred the morning before Bonamci came to visit, which came in the form of a budget outline released at the White House. 

“We haven’t seen all the details yet, but the overall mission is to cut ‘woke’ programs, but they don’t define what ‘woke’ means,” Bonamici said.

She was shocked by this, particularly given the fact that those who want to put this act into place cannot even explain what this statement means to them.

Along with the work she’s done as a representative, Bonamici has been a longstanding believer in public education and has done everything in her power to support public schools. After high school, Bonamici took a break and worked for several years, while figuring out what she wanted to do with her life. After some consideration, she went to community college in Eugene, then the University of Oregon, and finally the U of O Law School. She shared so much with the class and had such a warm presence during her visit. She was invested in everything students asked her and gave very honest, raw, and thoughtful answers.

The impact she had on the students and teachers was obvious, and the importance of all she talked about is undeniable.

“I thought that it was important to have someone come in and talk to students, because it’s important for students to know what’s happening in their country,” said Emerson Odom, freshman. 

“I do think it’s important for students to learn about our political process and understand how federal decisions can be felt locally, said Principal Jo Ann Wadkins. “As you become a voter, I think it’s important to have that exposure.”

Jessica Sawyer, Cleveland’s leadership teacher, said, “It’s nice to see politicians making themselves visible to young adults.”

Maya Feldman-Wang, a freshman in Sawyer’s class, was impressed by Bonamici. “I really enjoyed talking to her. We got to know a lot of current events and we got to know what was going on in our politics and government right now. I also like learning about what she’s doing to help protect our public education and funding,” she said.

During her time at Cleveland, Bonamici emphasized the fact that “not everybody’s path is the same,” she said. “Now I’m on the Education Committee in Congress, and really wanted to open up the doors of opportunity. I care a lot about education, which is why I like to come to schools.” 

It’s no easy time to be such a proud supporter of schools, given the fact that Trump is trying his very best to abolish the Department of Education. In spite of the fact that he may not be able to proceed with that plan, he has removed many programs and as much funding as possible – and will continue to do so. 

“The best investment we can make is in education. We should not be cutting these programs, because they’re what we need, not only for the economy, but society and democracy. We need people to be educated. Education is a good thing, although you wouldn’t know it with some of the things they’re doing right now,” Bonamici said.

Of the many facets and important aspects of education, Bonamici is a big advocate for early childhood programs, especially Head Start. She said, “It is a great program that is very effective, and it is under attack. I don’t know why they want to cut it. It just doesn’t make any sense to me, because it’s such a good investment.” 

Bonamici has worked on a piece of legislation called Community Service Block Grants, which is an anti-poverty program. She just reintroduced a bipartisan bill to reauthorize it. “I think the value of early education is overlooked,” she said. Because school starts at such a young age, making sure children and their families have the necessary support to make the transition to school is an invaluable resource. 

In addition to the countless Education department programs that have been cut or are facing removal, Bonamici mentioned plenty of other issues that have arisen so far during Trump’s time in office. Immigration, climate change and healthcare are all seemingly solvable matters that Trump has turned into far more complicated disasters. “The Trump Administration has shown total disregard for rights regarding deportation,” she said.

“Right now, they’re deporting people without any due process. It’s a really challenging time for a lot of people right now. So I’m in there for the fight, mostly because of the future that I want to leave for the next generation,” Bonamici said.

In addition, many of the new anti-D.E.I. policies Trump has put in place feel quite rash and unexplainable. There is much to learn from others with different backgrounds and experiences than our own, and the removal of a program that helps make this possible is a clear indicator of Trump’s intentions. When talking about the removal of such policies, Bonamici said, “I just don’t understand what is motivating this, other than that there are people who want this to be a white Christian nationalist nation.”

Having someone – such as Trump – in such a position of power makes it terrifying to speak up, but standing up for what you believe in is more important. “I’m doing things I haven’t done before as a member of Congress,” she said.

For example, she helped communicate to the Department of Labor and let them know they didn’t need to let members of DOGE in their building, saying, “These Elon Musk people don’t know what they’re doing.” She stood outside the Department of Education, after having been locked out by the secretary of education, and demanded a meeting. She’s been protesting for various causes, and doing everything in her power to spread awareness and make a change. “We’re really doing all we can to speak up, and it is making a difference,” Bonamici said.

The amount of determination and hope Bonamici showed was inspiring, especially when living in a time where it’s easy to lose hope in the future of our country. When giving a word of advice to young people, Bonamci said, “I would say, be in community. Make sure that you’re spending time with friends, family, and talking about issues. Don’t let it wear you down, because that’s part of the point. The chaos is part of the point. They want us to give up and say, ‘Oh, it’s too much, we can’t deal with this.’ We’re not gonna let that happen, because there’s too much at stake, and know that I will be the voice in Congress.” 

She still has hope, and so should we.