Congressman Dan Meuser holds electronic town hall with constituents

U.S. Representative Dan Meuser (R-PA9) held a telephone town hall with over 12,000 constituents on Wednesday, April 9.

The session began about 35 minutes after its scheduled 6:30 p.m. start because Meuser, who represents Bradford, Columbia, Lebanon, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Wyoming counties, was on the House floor for a vote.

Once the session began, Meuser apologized for being late and spent the next 5 minutes highlighting a few topics, including the budget resolution followed by the budget reconciliation bill, which he called “a big beautiful bill,” invoking verbiage used by President Donald Trump.

He also stated during his opening remarks that his office is about “All Things Pennsylvania” and that his job is to uphold the U.S. Constitution.  

Included with his remarks was a poll question asking listeners to press 1 if they agreed and press 2 if they disagreed about the performance of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The question asked: “Do you support President Trump and his effort to root out waste, abuse and fraud in the federal government?”

The results were not shared with listeners at the end of the question-and-answer session that immediately followed. The entire session ran just over an hour. 

He noted that DOGE has reportedly saved $150 billion and said that more must and will be done to reduce the nation’s debt. According to the official DOGE website, the agency has saved the government $150 billion.

After his remarks, the first caller was critical of Elon Musk, calling the cuts to necessary programs “appalling.” She didn’t like Musk “chopping first and asking questions later.” She was also unhappy with ICE deporting immigrants who are in the United States legally and said the nation’s reputation around the world is being “tarnished.”

She asked Meuser to not just be a cheerleader for the president but ensure the country’s worldwide reputation is “one that we can be proud of.”

Meuser told her he’s a “cheerleader for policy, for America, our national security and our economy,” themes he repeated several times throughout the telephone town hall. He highlighted the nation’s debt, which is in the trillions of dollars, adding that the U.S. is headed for disaster if it stays on the same path.

Michael from Lebanon was supportive of the president and of Meuser’s work in Congress, as were most of the callers who spoke during the session. Michael said he believed the nation is “going in the right direction” but wanted to ask about reshoring of jobs and workforce development. 

In noting Lebanon has the highest population of constituents in his district, Meuser said he’s very supportive of career and technical schools, adding he’s visited the Lebanon County Career and Technology Center on several occasions.

Read More: Needs at career and tech center addressed during visit by Meuser

“Those kinds of educational opportunities are so very important, they tend to be packed, and even have waiting lists,” Meuser said. “We’re looking to see that any student who would get traditional college education can also get it for vocational development.”

Meuser said he would “give a shoutout to unions and their apprentice programs and other trade groups and their very, very good skill development plans.”

Concerning reshoring, Meuser said artificial intelligence and high-tech companies are among those that Pennsylvania is trying to capture and are very, very important to the president’s initiatives.

He also made other comments during an eight-minute answer to Michael’s two-part question, including statements about lowering taxes and regulations, the need to maximize energy production, supporting school choice and not putting enough resources towards roads and infrastructure in Pennsylvania as reasons why the business industry isn’t better in the Keystone State.

He was also critical of Biden’s policies during his administration and its inability to bring American companies back to the U.S.

Taxes and tariffs

While several callers asked about taxes, including eliminating those on social security, which Meuser said he supports, others asked about the president’s implementation of tariffs. Meuser noted that eliminating the social security tax is not an inexpensive item, adding the “numbers are in the neighborhood of $100 billion.”

About tariffs, Meuser said free trade has been unfair to America for quite awhile and the administration “just wants reciprocity on tariffs.” He said “75 nations are coming to the table with trade agreements.”

He said the stock market had fully rebounded today and then corrected himself to say it would rebound shortly following today’s announcement by President Trump that he was putting a 90-day pause on tariffs. 

Analysts, however, are predicting the stock market to potentially remain volatile, according to published reports, and that while there was a “significant rally” on Wednesday, the stock market is below where it was before the recent tariff announcement and implementation.

Reputation of Congress

One caller was critical of federally elected officials becoming millionaires after they enter Congress despite earning an annual salary of $174,000. Meuser called that “a head scratcher” and said that fact bugs him.

“Those who become millionaires, I think they, they, somehow latch on to those who are willing to pay multi-million dollars for a book that they don’t sell many copies of,” Meuser said. “I do think there are some underhanded things taking place, whether they are legal or not, they don’t seem kosher, if you will, and it is something that the Department of Government Efficiency, as run by Elon Musk, is something that they say they are going to take a closer look at – and I hope they do. Because it doesn’t look right, and it not only looks bad, it is bad.”

Concerning insider trading, Meuser said he doesn’t see how short- or long-term information can benefit his colleagues. He then “admitted that there were a couple of instances where he heard some things that he could have bought stock on, but did not.” He noted Moderna was an example of that happening with the company president telling Congress that they were close to developing a COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic.

Meuser added there are rules, an ethics department and ethics committee that has oversight of the members, and he believes his colleagues don’t break the rules regarding insider trading.

He followed that statement by saying he’s heard that California Democrat Nancy Pelosi reportedly entered Congress worth $1 million and that figure now stands at over $200 million or “something absurd like that.” 

Meuser did not disclose his worth when he entered Congress or where it stands now during the town hall. No other caller asked him, either, and the media was permitted to listen to the session but not participate in it.

Impeaching federal judges

Another caller asked Meuser to impeach federal judges who make rulings against Trump’s executive orders. Meuser called some of the rulings “grotesque” and told listeners he voted for the No Rogue bill in the House. The bill, which passed the House, would limit judicial power against the president. 

Meeting with constituents

The final caller from Schuylkill Haven asked Meuser when he plans to do a town hall in person since “Schuylkill County went hard for him” in the last election. He also asked about potential cuts to Medicaid, which he said is a very important program that he can’t lose. He was also critical of tariffs causing the volatility in the stock market the past week.

Concerning town halls, Meuser said they do many public forums with farmers, veterans, and business roundtables that “anyone can show up for.” He added he’s in all of his legislative district quite a bit.

That question from the caller mirrored previous concerns aired by Lebanon County residents who launched a protest at the county municipal building a few weeks ago titled Mondays with Meuser. The first gathering, which had about 50 protestors, was held to demand Meuser to meet with his constituents in a town hall-style meeting and keep his oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution, according to organizer Mike Schroeder.

“If you think we’re just going to set something up so people can come in and do everything they can to upstage, create mayhem and be uncivil and scream and yell and say I’m a rotten guy because I’m going to cut Medicaid, we’re not going to create that sort of forum,” Meuser said. “What we will do, we’re going to have something where we check IDs coming in, we gotta make sure – we’re not going to have people bussed in either. You know, that’s a big thing. They bring people in from New Jersey and everything else. I’m not gonna play that game. I don’t have time for it. My constituents don’t have time for it.”

Meuser said they’d have more forums for people like the caller who he said “sounds like a nice guy and those who can have real civil conversations.”   

Meuser segued after that, reiterating his platform of having a secure border, lowering energy costs, “having a high fence but wide gates” to allow entry into the U.S. of people who have been properly cleared, which he said will benefit agriculture and other industries. 

He added that would be in contrast to Biden’s “chaotic and sick administration that left the borders wide open” to millions of illegal aliens to enter the nation.