[Regarding “Speaking Out: Concerns About the Trump Administration Overwhelm Chuck Edwards’ Office Hours,” Xpress, featured in the Xpress newsletter, both March 5:]
This is in response to the inquiry in the Xpress newsletter about local effects of the pending or executed budget cuts. No one disputes that inefficiencies are to be found in most all federal programs, but cutting them rapidly, ruthlessly and possibly illegally, without study, by an unelected billionaire and his 20-something minions, is inexcusable!
I have a large immediate family living within Rep. Chuck Edwards’ District 11. Two of us are on Social Security and Medicare. Cuts to those programs will certainly impact us. Two additional members are veterans who procure care and treatment from the Charles George Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The staffing and funding cuts there likely will impede medical services in the future. Another family member with two small children works for one of the targeted federal agencies, and their job security is a fear daily. All of our immediate family members (14) enjoy the national forests; the staffing cuts will reduce their ability to hike, bike, fish and maintain healthy lifestyles as easily as before.
The current administration has not put forth any defined programs to reduce the costs of food and housing. In fact, with the current rate of inflation, new tariffs and aggressive deportation of many agricultural workers, food prices are not likely to decrease anytime soon.
Please share this with Mr. Edwards!
— Sheryl Fortune
Arden
unfortunately, Chuck can’t hear you …he lives in the very same echo chamber that our criminally insane POTUS lives in. It’s FOX “News” that keeps them informed ( okay, decidedly uninformed) ..but definitely instep with the MAGA 2025 agenda which explicitly calls for the ending of the Social Security and Medicare entitlement programs. And no worries on the VA care for your elderly relatives ..they’re only cutting a mere 80,000 employees of the VA so that shouldn’t be a problem. So now the question is… just how delusional and separated from reality is Edwards? …and the Rump? When they say they’re not going to cut your Social Security and Medicare, but rather cut the “abuse, fraud and waste” out of it ( you know, the millions of 150 year olds still getting social security) ..what does that mean exactly? I think I know… you’re going to find Medicare paying a lot less of what it was they were paying when you’re billed from your healthcare providers moving forward ( this has already begun actually). And your Social Security? …well, sure there will be some unexpected disruptions in your monthly payments ..but no worries, they (Elon and his gang of adolescent zealot bro hackers) are going to get that straightened out asap …right? But anyway, the best of luck to you and your family with all of this because it’s all coming quicker and sooner than you imagine …and it’s definitely coming …like this year. It’s not called Project 2025 for nothing.