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Where’s my congressman?

I have questions for Congressman Glenn Thompson, but can’t find when he’s available to take questions. I’d like to know his thoughts on Trump’s goal to annex Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal by force if necessary. I’d like to know his thoughts about Musk gutting veterans’ services and laying off half the VA’s workforce. Also, what’s his stand on NATO and destroying our global alliances, as well as his party’s plan to eliminate the Department of Education, privatize the post office and eliminate medical research grants? I called Congressman Thompson’s office 4 ...

Wake up

Should our country’s ultrawealthy and corporations receive additional tax cuts at the expense of healthcare for the neediest Americans? The Trump administration and congressional Republicans have decided that one of their top legislative priorities is keeping taxes as low as possible for corporations and the wealthiest households by extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). In addition to adding $4.6 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, extending the TCJA would give the top 1% of households an average tax cut of over $48,000 in 2026, while the bottom 60% of ...

Start with Dan Meuser

Recently, Congressman Dan Meuser of PA-9 introduced the Payment Information Integrity Reform Act to “expose waste and improper payments in federal programs.” From 1988-2008, Congressman Meuser worked for his family’s multimillion dollar mobility company, Pride Mobility Products, and still sits on the company’s board today. Pride Mobility accepts government payments in the form of Medicaid and Medicare. Pride Mobility is also a high-level donor to Congressman Meuser’s political campaigns. That’s right. Congressman Meuser funds his political campaigns, in part, on the ...

Social Security

When my sister died years ago, I waited two hours on the phone with the Social Security Administration to report her death. I was told that the funeral home had already reported the death. Her benefit payments had been stopped and I need not do anything. Imagine your wait time now, with 7,000 staff cuts planned. Or having to drive to Harrisburg if the Shamokin Dam office closes. Or hoping your disability hearing is not further delayed. (As of March 10, the SSA website states the average processing time for a disability case is 233 days.) Imagine, if a calculation error created an ...

Swift and unrelenting action

At his nationally televised speech before Congress, President Trump bragged about his administration’s “swift and unrelenting action.” He is right about the speed – but it does nothing to “Make America Great Again.” Instead, it is a ruthless assault on the federal government and our 250-year-old democratic institutions. Trump has empowered the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, to tear down the very foundations of government. Musk and his band of twenty-something tech bros aren’t reinventing Washington – they’re pillaging it. They have stormed agencies, destroyed ...

Trump’s national cabinet

Trump’s cabinet is a national cabinet, a cabinet which spans both parties. R. F. Kennedy, Jr. is still a Democrat, Tulsi Gabbard ran for president as a Democrat, and Elon Musk with his own special department voted for Biden twice. Roosevelt did the same thing during World War II much to Democratic consternation. Roosevelt’s Secretaries of War and Navy were Republicans. The reason for a bipartisan cabinet is to forge national unity in a dire time of war, thereby aligning the country’s strengths against the common enemy. And, yes, America is presently at war with a common enemy. A ...