Your compatriot, Rich McCormick, had a town hall recently. It did not go as well as he hoped, especially considering the continued chaos in the federal government. Still, he did what a Congressional representative should do, and met with the public he represents.
And that leads us to you. Exactly when will you meet with the people who you represent? After all, with all the federal firings and destruction of government programs, folks want to know how this is going to impact all of us.
For instance, the latest program trashed was FEMA’s input into new building standards to ensure homes are better able to withstand natural disasters. This is, after all, a win/win for everyone, including the people you represent. We’re all vulnerable to hurricanes, flooding, and strong winds.
The building industry might whine, but the 1-2% cost in construction is nothing compared to the billions, likely trillions, of dollars saved. All we can hope is that there are local and state governments intelligent enough to know that constructing homes that can’t withstand hurricanes doesn’t magically make the hurricanes go away.
Then there’s the talk about the House Budget, and the targeting of Medicaid. At least we assume the effort will target Medicaid, only…targeting Social Security and Medicare being that whole third-rail thing.
I spent some time getting to know the counties you represent. Especially the counties in the south. I discovered from various maps, including several put out by the state of Georgia that you represent counties they are some of the poorest in the state. Not only that, but many have little or no healthcare access other than some regional rural hospitals.
Yet one of the most important elements to ensure rural healthcare access is Medicaid. Because of Medicaid, hospitals and doctors are paid and can financially continue to operate. Because of Medicaid expansion, people can see doctors sooner, when it’s actually cheaper to treat them, then wait until a life-threatening crisis occurs.
Because of Medicaid expansion, many Republican voter lives have been saved. I wanted to point this out because Congressional Republicans like yourself seem to believe that Medicaid expansion only helps Democratic voters That’s the only reason why I would think that you’d attempt to decimate Medicaid in order to pay for tax cuts for rich folk like yourself.
(You do know that no one is buying that whole tax cut thing is good for the country any more, right? Just wanting to ensure we’re communicating from the same basis of understanding.)
And the talk of work requirements for Medicaid. That’s all hogwash, and a supposedly well-informed member of a health profession would know this. Particularly a member of the health profession who also happens to represent Georgia. You only have to look at the debacle which is the Pathways to Coverage to see how true this is. Even though over 92% of adult Medicaid recipients are working, the complications associated with trying to meet the requirements actually prevents eligible people from signing up.
I suppose this is the intent, though. You can then point to the faulty Medicaid roll out as helping your citizens, at the same time you can gut the expansion and cut the costs by making the rules so arduous and complex, only 1 in 10 can survive the red tape gauntlet.
“We offered, but no one signed up!”
I’d say this is politically brilliant if I wasn’t so overcome with revulsion at the self-serving callousness of it all.
Sorry, that wasn’t very friendly, was it? And I want to be friendly. I want to encourage you to come meet with folks like me, and explain to us why what’s happening in DC is good for us.
But you will have to excuse my cynicism at times. People dying. People sick. People ruined by medical costs. People’s homes destroyed in hurricanes, federal workers lives destroyed because some 19 year old kid is now in control in various government departments….is this what you’re promising for the citizens of Georgia? If not, then there’s a simple solution to getting out the message you want Georgia citizens to hear:
Have a town hall.
Answer questions from the people you represent. Tell us why all the DOGE federal worker cuts are good, and firing people handling the bird flu outbreak is smart, or removing building standards that will actually cut billions in hurricane losses is a win. Explain how Trump can override the Congressional power of the purse and you in Congress are OK with this. Or that Trump can dissolve the independent US Postal service and fire all of its board, in contradiction of laws Republicans helped pass.
(That last one was a new one to me, and I admit even after the last four weeks, kind of knocked the breath out of me.)
We’re just plain folk here in Georgia’s First Congressional district. We’re not politicians or government experts. We don’t understand all the complicated DC political stuff, because frankly, what’s happening in DC makes no sense to most of us.
Have a town hall. And not by phone, either. Meet us, face to face. We really want to have a talk with you.
Sources
https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-rep-rich-mccormick-faces-044356470.html
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/20/nx-s1-5303478/fema-trump-building-codes-floods-hurricane-disasters
https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/cong_dist/cd115/cd_based/ST13/CD115_GA01.pdf
https://dch.georgia.gov/divisionsoffices/state-office-rural-health/sorh-maps-georgia
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/usda-accidentally-fired-officials-bird-flu-rehire-rcna192716
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/21/business/trump-postal-service-privatization/index.html