{"id":60325,"date":"2025-12-13T21:42:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T21:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/60325\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T21:42:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T21:42:08","slug":"scranton-town-hall-demands-progress-for-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/60325\/","title":{"rendered":"Scranton town hall demands \u2018Progress for the People\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCRANTON \u2014 Legislators and community members came together Saturday to voice concerns about Republican-backed policies they say would limit services and contribute to a decline in quality of life for citizens.<\/p>\n

Opening the town hall event, were U.S. Representatives Brendan Boyle, Madeleine Dean, Jim McGovern and\u00a0 Pramila Jayapal, who shared concerns about what President Donald Trump calls the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill,\u201d which they said limits access to healthcare and transfers wealth from working people to the richest among us.<\/p>\n

The representatives told residents who filled the Steamtown Ballroom at the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center, answers would be found in continuing to make their concerns heard and to fully participate in the process of government.<\/p>\n

\"Rep.Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash, addresses a crowd a Townhall at the Hilton Hotel Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (GERI GIBBONS\/STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n

Boyle, of Philadelphia, said Trump hadn\u2019t kept his promise to \u201cbring down prices on day one.\u201d Instead, Boyle said current prices were higher than expected because of the impact tariffs had on the economy.<\/p>\n

Boyle said 15 million people are expected to lose their health insurance due to the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill Act\u201d and the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot even during the Great Depression did 15 million people lose their healthcare,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"U.S.U.S. Representatives participated in a Townhall meeting Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, to address resident concerns about the effects of the current administration\u2019s policies: Left to right: Rep. Brendan Boyle (PA-02), Rep. Madeleine Dean (PA-04), Rep. Jim McGovern (MA-02) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA-07). This town hall is part of a series of community-led Progress for the People town halls in districts across the country. (GERI GIBBONS\/STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n

During a question and answer period, Boyle emphasized that reduction in Medicaid funding would challenge the healthcare system as a whole.<\/p>\n

For example, he said 80% of patients at Temple Hospital utilize Medicaid or Medicare.<\/p>\n

When cuts are made to those benefits, the hospital system will need to figure out a way to move forward, which will mean higher health care costs for everyone.<\/p>\n

\"MembersMembers of the community shown at a Townhall event on Sat., Dec. 13, 2025. Democratic legislators provided information and practical tools to respond to the current administration\u2019s policies, which they say limits access to healthcare and makes like difficult for the average American. (GERI GIBBONS\/STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n

The $1 trillion reduction in health care funding, will certainly impact the nation\u2019s entire healthcare system, he said.<\/p>\n

Dean, of Pennsylvania, said she was also concerned about national health, not just the medical part of health, but also the economic and civil aspects of health.<\/p>\n

Dean said she had hoped prices would come down within the last year, but groceries, utilities and healthcare now cost more.<\/p>\n

She anticipates many citizens will forego healthcare simply because they can\u2019t afford it, she said.<\/p>\n

She also questions why government leaders are amassing wealth, when ordinary people are struggling.<\/p>\n

Government, she said, should be an act of service and not an opportunity to get rich.<\/p>\n

Jayapal, of Washington, came to America from India at 16, leaving her family behind to make a life in the United States.<\/p>\n

She pointed out that her parents were so convinced that she would have more opportunity, that they were willing to sacrifice so she would do better in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt used to be you could work hard and do well,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is the world that should be available to every single person.\u201d<\/p>\n

She fears many people won\u2019t have the opportunity to build better lives because they\u2019ll lack the support and opportunity she had when she came to this country.<\/p>\n

During a question and answer period which followed initial legislator presentations, residents emphasized concerns about health care and rising costs of essentials.<\/p>\n

The event was sponsored by Progressive Caucus Action Fund, Action Together NEPA, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, Pennsylvanians Together in Action, Pennsylvania Policy Center, Make the Road Action PA, Rural Organizing, Main Street Action, Affordable Pennsylvania, United Steelworkers, For Our Future PA Action Fund and Working Families Power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 Legislators and community members came together Saturday to voice concerns about Republican-backed policies they say would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,29,50,178,180,179,181],"class_list":{"0":"post-60325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-lackawanna-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-pennsylvania-news","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-scranton","15":"tag-scranton-headlines","16":"tag-scranton-news","17":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60325","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=60325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}