PHOENIXVILLE\u2013U.S. Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan took constituents on a rollicking, vast and informative ride over the past year and a look into the future, for her seventh \u201cState of the Sixth,\u201d address, at the Colonial Theater, on Monday evening.<\/p>\n
About 500 residents of Chester and parts of Berks counties packed the theater and heard Houlahan talk about what she said are \u201cdifficult and dividing times for the community\u201d\u2014those in her 6th Congressional District.<\/p>\n
The Congresswoman said she chose to not talk politics so much, but policy, during a time when she said, \u201clong-standing checks and balances are really being tested as I\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several times she discussed President Donald Trump, the acts of Congress and the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d (BBB) as things last year that caused changes, while highlighting both the good and the bad.<\/p>\n
She gave an hour-long slide presentation featuring about a dozen alphabetized categories\u2013from Agriculture to Housing to Veterans, and then answered audience questions for 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
Houlahan started off by talking about ICE intervention and immigration, which has been a hot topic recently in Phoenixville, with well-publicized arrests.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo family should have to live in fear,\u201d the Congresswoman said.<\/p>\n
She then said she has full confidence in Phoenixville Mayor Peter Urscheler and Phoenixville police officers, state Representatives Chris Pielli and Paul Friel, Chester County Commissioners and all 100 local police organizations in the county.<\/p>\n
When speaking about agriculture, the U.S. Rep talked about how $1.86 billion \u201cdraconian\u201d budget cuts to the SNAP program have hurt both individuals and farmers.<\/p>\n
She said that thankfully some projected USDA funding cuts were stopped thanks to pushback and lawsuits<\/p>\n
Houlahan suggested some concerns of farmers could be addressed: Fix the immigration system and expand visas; protect SNAP programs; not punish those with disabilities; and protect smaller farmers.<\/p>\n
When talking about energy, the Congresswoman received a round of applause when she said that climate change is real. She suggested a bigger push for solar energy production and energy independence, which the BBB has limited.<\/p>\n
With housing, everyone obviously needs a roof over their head. Houlahan noted that Trump fired almost half of the HUD workforce. She noted that Berks and Chester counties are some of the few places experiencing growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should expand access and affordability for everyone by supporting HUD, first time buyers, keeping people in existing homes, focusing on homelessness and increasing the housing supply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Healthcare has become more expensive with BBB and Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can protect healthcare by not letting subsidies lapse, lowering prescription costs, investing in healthcare workers and supporting the 988 mental health help line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houlahan quoted her folks on education, \u201cYour education is literally the only thing that can\u2019t be taken away from you.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that dismantling the Department of Education is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to invest in our children,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not doing enough of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When talking about the economy, she called for more workforce ownership of companies and a raise of the minimum wage, which would be the first time since 2009.<\/p>\n
She also said that tariffs have cost the average family from $1,100 to $2,400 in one year.<\/p>\n
When talking about national security, Houlahan called for the firing of Pete Hegseth.<\/p>\n
The veteran and congresswoman said we should keep supporting our service men and women and continue to modernize the military. Recent 15 percent pay raises are a good thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure that every person who wants to serve our country can and does,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Foreign policy was a major topic of discussion. Wars are won before they are fought and the \u201cD\u201d stands for Defense, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cChaos is our current policy,\u201d she said. \u201cBrute force is our current policy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSupport diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Houlahan also said that three quarters of the members of Congress support Ukraine but that will never come to a vote, because of the way the system is structured.<\/p>\n
With immigration, \u201cThere is always room for more\u2026people who come here with something to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
When talking about veterans, she noted the many cuts to services.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonor veteran\u2019s service, not just on Veterans Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Urscheler chose audience questions for Houlahan to answer.<\/p>\n
The first concerned data centers which the congresswoman said that we should make sure the data centers are paying their fair share.<\/p>\n
Houlahan favors more tax credit for the manufacturing of solar energy through a bi-partisan approach.<\/p>\n
She said we are in a \u201cvery bad place\u201d concerning the Doomsday Clock and a possible nuclear conflict and is not in favor of total disarmament.<\/p>\n
The congresswoman is very worried about election security and said that some of the Trump plans at the federal level are unconstitutional and \u201cnone of it makes a lot of sense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like several matters, she said we should contact and press our two senators into positive action. With immigration, detention centers might be handled on state, local and hyper local levels and it might be a private matter.<\/p>\n
Houlahan closed by saying that the 6th District is an important part of the country and to keep the conversations open.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake care of yourself and find something that gives you a purpose,\u201d she said. \u201cTry to focus on what we can focus on that we have in common.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur democracy doesn\u2019t just run on its own. It requires participation. It requires courage.<\/p>\n
\u201cFear can\u2019t paralyze us. Please continue to stay informed.\u201d<\/p>\n
She then quoted Ben Franklin.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a Republic, if we can keep it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIXVILLE\u2013U.S. Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan took constituents on a rollicking, vast and informative ride over the past year and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[182,883,139,28,50,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-111260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-local-news","9":"tag-local-politics","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-reading-city","14":"tag-reading-city-headlines","15":"tag-reading-city-news","16":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}