The facility could be affected by proposed cuts to Medicaid.
Rep April McCain Delaney
Hagerstown, Md (KM) A tour of the 6th District on Friday by Congresswoman April McClain Delaney included a stop at the Community Health Center in Hagerstown. She said this facility provides medical and dental care to about 9,000 patients each year, many of whom are on Medicaid. “I will say in Maryland’s 6th District there’s more 109,000 people [that} depend on Medicaid to access care, and 56,000 of them are children. So think about that,” she said.
Funding for this facility is threatened by the Republican House reconciliation package which is proposing cuts to Medicaid. The Trump Administration and its supporters say these proposed cuts are intended to make government more efficient. McCain Delaney disagrees. “Of course we want efficient government. But we don’t want penny foolish, pound foolish cuts that are made ad hoc,” she said. “If anything, I think they’re going to be more expensive for our country, and make us sicker and less healthy.”
The Administration also says these cuts will also reduce waste and fraud. McCain Delaney disputes that. “I don’t see how the cuts that they’re making in such a rash and almost convoluted way really are achieving their objectives,”: she said. “if anything, I think it’s sowing chaos and confusion.”
Citizens around the country have protested against actions by the Trump Administration, allowing billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency to go into federal government agencies and look at their sensitive data. They are also protesting President Trump’s decision to fire federal government workers.
The complaint many have is Congress is not doing anything about it. Some say members of the House and the Senate are “sitting on their hands.” McCain Delaney says she and her fellow Democrats are doing all they can to fight it. “We’re standing up. We’re sending letters. We are fighting for this. But it has got to be both sides of the aisle coming together to support the three, co-equal branches of government,”: she said.
But McClain Delaney says the Republicans are not helping. “Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues have not stood up for their own constituents and are letting this happen,” she says.
The GOP has the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. But McClain Delaney says it’s a slim lead in the House.
By Kevin McManus