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<\/p>\nSome Democratic lawmakers say that Rep. Rob Bresnahan\u00a0Jr., a Republican congressman elected this year to serve Pennsylvania\u2019s 8th district, is missing in action \u2014 no town halls, public forums or public engagement.<\/p>\n
So Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern, with a cohort of fellow Democrats, didn\u2019t pass up the opportunity to talk with Pennsylvania voters on Dec. 13 as part of an ongoing \u201cProgress for the People\u201d tour.<\/p>\n
McGovern, who was first elected to congress in 1997, is no stranger to town halls across his district, from Greenfield to Worcester and beyond. But he took a seat with the voters of Pennsylvania in an effort to not only ensure their voices are heard, but also to learn from them as Democrats fight for a political comeback after a generational crisis confronted the party during last year\u2019s national election cycle.<\/p>\n
Since his constituents in Massachusetts have called on McGovern to brave Republican districts to strengthen the Democratic base, he traveled to Scranton, a city of more than 76,000 people in northeastern Pennsylvania. There he heard from voters in the Republican-led district alongside Pennsylvania Democratic lawmakers Brendan Boyle and Madeleine Dean, as well as Pramila Jayapal of Washington state.<\/p>\n
McGovern said the event, which drew a few hundred people, was a \u201ccandid exchange\u201d and an \u201cintense, even emotional\u201d one that homed in on the deepening rift between the haves and have-nots in America.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe intensity around the issue of affordability is what stood out to me,\u201d McGovern said following the town hall. \u201cWhat I heard in Scranton is what people all across the country are saying: Those at the very top are doing better than ever, while everyone else is falling further behind. \u2026 While Republicans like Rep. Bresnahan continue to hide from their constituents, Democrats will continue fighting for every family \u2014 in every community \u2014 across our country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Attempts to contact Bresnahan for comment Friday were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
McGovern said people can\u2019t afford the very basics like health care, putting food on the table and saving for college. Meanwhile, nurses and health care professionals are worried about their jobs in the wake of federal cuts to health care.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur bills are doubling \u2026 and in some ways people are working harder than ever and can afford less and less,\u201d McGovern said.<\/p>\n
He also said that many who receive food stamps are working people who are trying to make ends meet, and denounced the federal government for taking away a necessary financial security net from families. He also expressed his belief that health care should be accessible for everyone, and promised he would hold insurance companies accountable.<\/p>\n
A woman in the audience brought up a topic near and dear to McGovern, namely farming. McGovern responded to the woman, who was concerned about small farms and being able to afford to operate them, saying, \u201cThese small farms and these medium-sized farms are essential to the economic vitality of so many states \u2014 Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, I could go on and on and on.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2512_progressforthepeople_scranton_0097-1024x683.jpg\")
U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal, Jim McGovern, Madeleine Dean and Brendan Boyle take questions from the audience in Scranton, Pennsylvania on Dec. 13. Credit: Matt Stanley.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd these small and medium-sized farmers, they work hard,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
During the town hall, McGovern said Trump isn\u2019t giving what little federal funds are being distributed to the small farmers, but rather corporate growers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not going to small and medium-sized farms, it\u2019s going to the big mega farms that write out big checks to this president and his allies. One of the reasons why we need to win the Congress back is so that we can write a farm bill that puts our small and medium farms front and center,\u201d he said, to applause.<\/p>\n
But something McGovern is tackling now is getting to the bottom of why donors are contributing toward the White House\u2019s $300 million ballroom.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonald Trump\u2019s building a Marie Antoinette ballroom,\u201d he said. \u201cAll these companies that are contributing hundreds of millions of dollars to finance that, I want to know what they\u2019re getting. What are they getting in return? We\u2019re going to be doing a hearing right now in Congress on what are they being promised, because they\u2019re not doing it for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The town hall in Pennsylvania was not a \u201cone-off,\u201d said McGovern. He said he will continue to travel to other states where Republicans choose to dodge their constituents to ensure people have their voices heard in Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cI care about what working-class people care about,\u201d said McGovern, adding that town halls are crucial if government is going to mean anything to people in a democratic system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some Democratic lawmakers say that Rep. Rob Bresnahan\u00a0Jr., a Republican congressman elected this year to serve Pennsylvania\u2019s 8th…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67543,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5718,30744,11475,10369,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-67542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-federal-government","tag-jim-mcgovern","tag-latest-news","tag-massachusetts","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67542","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=67542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}