About 100 people filled the cafeteria at Chestnut Hill Middle School in Liverpool last night for a town-hall style meeting held by Congressmember John Mannion. The friendly, invitation-only crowd shared Mannion’s concerns about the turbulence in Washington.
There were no apparent political adversaries, but the freshman Democratic congressman still tried to maintain a bipartisan tone in his remarks. He acknowledged the dynamics in Washington make it challenging.
“I am in these past four months more partisan than I thought I was going to be," Mannion said. "But I am more partisan because I am standing up for the rule of law. I'm standing up for the Constitution. And I'm here to call out the actions that are a violation of our norms that violate the rule of law, not because I'm a member of the Democratic Party. I'm doing that because I'm an American.”
Mannion says the flurry of legally dubious executive orders, ignored court orders, slashed federal funding, and lack of a response by the Republican majority in Congress has created a clear constitutional crisis. He said giving up or being obstructionist doesn’t help the people of the 22nd district.
“I talked to my Republican colleagues about it. I'm going to continue to find common ground," Mannion said. "There are people that say to me you should never vote yes on anything. You should not co-sponsor a thing. That's not going to change anything.”
Mannion took eight pre-screened questions during the hour and a half event, ranging from the future of Micron and I-81 projects under the Trump administration, to concerns about the solvency of Social Security and Medicaid. Allison DeVoe of Syracuse was there to thank him for supporting funding to fight tuberculosis here and around the globe.
“The US has been one of the largest funders of these tuberculosis prevention and treatment programs for decades now, and of course, that was part of the USAID cuts," DeVoe said. "There were also programs domestically under the CDC and NIH that have also been cut or severely restricted.”
DeVoe said despite major gains over the past 20 years in preventing and treating tuberculosis, the NIH, WHO, and others warn the Trump administration funding freeze could result in a surge in TB cases and deaths.
The tightly planned and scripted gathering with a crowd of like-minded supporters was unlike others in recent weeks across the country where angry constituents yelled at their representatives. Most of the frustration has been directed at Republican representatives, often from members of the same party. The location of the Mannion event was kept secret from even the media until hours before it began, which organizers said was at the guidance of U.S. Capitol Police. DeVoe said the caution is justified.
"I understand to some extent why events like this have to be somewhat restricted, why they have to have people sign up so that thousands of people don't try to crawl into this tiny middle school cafeteria."
For those who did not or could not attend, DeVoe said the congressman's office has been very responsive through phone calls and email.
