“What do Husted and Moreno have to hide? Why won’t they speak with their constituents?”
That’s the simple, pointed question Cincinnati pastor Chris Gillium, an associate minister at New Emmanuel Church and a member of Communities United for Action (CUFA), asked in an op-ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer as he invited Ohio Senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, along with U.S. Representative Warren Davidson, to a Town Hall with constituents hosted by CUFA on April 22.
This was not CUFA’s first invitation to the lawmakers, who are both MAGA stalwarts and thus far, supporters of the Trump administration’s efforts to make deep cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and food aid, and to slash the agencies that protect our water and air. CUFA had invited them to a previous Town Hall during the March Congressional Recess, too.
“U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio), who did accept that invitation, explained the Trump-MAGA agenda succinctly.
“The administration is indiscriminately firing tens of thousands of people, over a hundred thousand people, a lot of them veterans, and withholding tens of billions of dollars from this region alone,” Landsman said.
Like most Republican lawmakers, Husted and Moreno have refused to meet with their constituents to acknowledge the harm these cuts will cause, yet CUFA’s efforts do seem to be having some effect. While he failed to show up on April 22, he did speak up publicly to voice his opposition to the cuts to health care.
“We don’t need to cut benefits. And it actually really infuriates me to hear people here talking about that, because it stresses people out. This is life and death for them.” Moreno told Semaphor on April 29.
Time will tell if Moreno is telling the truth. Neither he nor Husted has publicly committed to using their votes to protect health care for their constituents, as the Trump administration’s budget reconciliation bill – which includes measures that will end health care for 14 million Americans – advances to the U.S. Senate for a vote.