SALISBURY TWP., Pa. — Bearing signs and chanting, "Stand up, fight back!," more than 100 protesters gathered outside U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie's office Wednesday to urge him to stand against potential cuts to Medicaid.
The protesters, mostly retirement-aged constituents, marched around Mackenzie's office on Cedar Crest Boulevard and drew honks of support from passing traffic.
Waving signs that read, "Hands off our health care" and "Mackenzie: Protect Medicaid," the group pledged that people would continue showing up for weeks to make sure the region's new congressman heard their demands.
"Well, we're going to keep shouting at him, just like we did with Toomey. 'Tuesdays with Toomey?' Maybe 'Mondays with Mackenzie!'" Northampton County executive candidate Tara Zrinski yelled into a bullhorn, referencing the weekly demonstrations Democrats held outside former U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey's offices across the state.
No one from Mackenzie's staff left the office to address the protestors, though organizers encouraged attendees to visit his office in small groups to express their concerns over potential Medicaid cuts.
"We should take steps to make sure that the benefits are there for those who need them, but that eligibility for people like illegal immigrants is strictly prohibited."U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley
Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, in a prepared statement called Medicaid an important program that helps Americans most in need.
As a state lawmaker, he helped constituents receive their entitled benefits, he said.
"We should take steps to make sure that the benefits are there for those who need them, but that eligibility for people like illegal immigrants is strictly prohibited," Mackenzie said in the statement.
Currently, states have latitude about whether to extend Medicaid benefits to people illegally in the country. Pennsylvania generally limits Medicaid eligibility to people lawfully residing in the commonwealth, according to the National Immigration Law Center.
Federal spending cuts
The Republican-controlled House has been locked in intra-party budget negotiations to build consensus for weeks.
National outlets report they're seeking consensus on a plan to extend tax cuts from Trump's first term, boost border security and slash federal spending by more than $2 trillion. To hit those targets, Republicans are reportedly eyeing Medicaid, the $880 billion federal benefits program that provides health insurance to low-income Americans.
Democrats and advocacy groups have raised red flags over the potential consequences of Medicaid cuts or restrictions, saying they could wreck havoc on the American health care system. Hospital networks in poor communities would struggle to be reimbursed for the health care they are obligated to provide, they said.
One of the protesters, Allentown City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach, said more than a third of residents in Allentown rely on Medicaid for health care, including seniors and infants.
Organizers placed 215 small red yard flags in the snow to represent the 215,000 residents in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District who are enrolled in the program.
"This shouldn't surprise us, right? We've seen from Day One they are going to come for the most vulnerable, the most marginalized," said Gerlach, a Democrat.
Mark Pinsley, the Democratic Lehigh County controller, said Lehigh County collects $90 million in Medicaid payments to treat residents at Cedarbrook, the county-owned nursing home. It collects another $100 million to treat people receiving mental health treatments.
Linda Famiglio, a pediatrician, said she attended the rally because the stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines.
She called Mackenzie a patriot who cares about the children in his district. She hoped he would stand up to his party and stick up for vulnerable kids. Any changes must be handled with extreme caution, she said.
"Children will have have a very significant, negative impact. Kids are going to die from this."Dr. Linda Famiglio, pediatrician
"Children will have a very significant, negative impact. Kids are going to die from this," Famiglio said.
Multiple speakers accused the Trump administration of a haphazard approach to governing during its first month in power that has reinforced fears Republicans will act recklessly. Mass layoffs have been mistakenly applied to critical staff, including nuclear safety employees and infectious disease researchers responding to the avian flu.
Much of the protesters' anger was directed at Elon Musk, the world's richest man and co-director of the Department of Government Efficiency instituting the spending cuts.
Sporting the pink knit caps protesters donned during the first Trump term, Lehigh County Democratic Chair Lori McFarland said she would welcome audits and eliminating government waste — if it's been done right.
Instead, Musk's team appears to be trampling the Constitution and cutting essential services, she said.
"This is not how you do it. You don't make cuts first and ask questions later," she said.
