It featured Representatives April McClain Delaney and Jamie Raskin.
Rep. Jamie Raskin Rep. April McClain Delaney
Frederick, Md (KM) IT was a full house Wednesday afternoon during a town hall at Rosenstock Hall at Hood College featuring 6th District Representative April McClain Delaney and 8th District Representative Jamie Raskin. Both answered questions from the audience.
The event was billed as an effort to find out how Trump Administration polices were affected the 6th District.
Audience members were told to fill out a card with their questions which were read by the moderator of the event, Frederick County Council President Brad Young.
One question came from a federal worker who said they were going to be fired, and want to know what they should do. “Our office is open, and we’ve also been trying to partner and pair with corporations and with state governments and non-profits to help in the short run,” said Congresswoman McClain Delaney.
Representative Raskin said there might be a legal remedy for federal workers who have been fired or are expected to be terminated. “I know the AFL-CIO is in the process of creating an army of volunteer lawyers–a lot of them people who’ve either lost their jobs or have resigned–who will work with individual federal employees. So be in touch with the AFL about that,” he said.
Another important issue addressed during the town hall was Social Security, which could be in the chopping block under the Trump Administration. “We’re going to defend Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security with everything we’ve got,” Congressman Raskin said to applause from the audience.
Raksin said the plan by Elon Musk and DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) is to fire a large number of Social Security employees. “Then they’re going to impose all of these mandates. And then they’re going to say Social Security doesn’t work. Then we’re going rescue Social Security by privatizing it and going to Wall Street which has been the program they’ve had for decades,”; Raskin said, to the sound of boos in the audience. “Look, this is going to be the Battle of Gettysburg with these people when they come after Social Security.”
Last week, the US House of Representatives voted on a continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded through September, 2025. Representative Raskin was asked how he voted. “I voted hell no,” he answered.. “This was no clean continuing resolution. This continued the attack on Medicaid, on health care and the social infrastructure. It also implicitly validated all of their lawless attacks on the federal government.”
Congresswoman McClain Delaney said she voted “no” because numbers in the continuing resolution did not add up. “As I looked at that budget, and across all of our colleagues, we could not figured out how the numbers worked,” she said. “$850-billion they had to take out of Energy and Commerce, It doesn’t work. It doesn’t compute unless they cut Medicaid.”
Rosenstock Hall had reached it capacity on Wednesday afternoon so the town hall was also streamed live on Facebook.
By Kevin McManus