For the past few months, activists around Pennsylvania have been flooding the regional offices of U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey to challenge him in person on issues like health care, immigration and the environment. In response, staffers at the various offices have been meeting weekly with six representatives from each group.
A few weeks ago, Pittsburgh joined in on the effort dubbed Tuesdays with Toomey. The first week, approximately 40 protesters went to Toomey’s local office in Station Square. Last week, the number of protesters rose to more than 200, according to organizers.
But this week, the Pittsburgh organizers received an email saying that Toomey staffers wouldn’t be able to meet with them. And whether it was due to the staff’s refusal or the controversial executive orders signed by President Donald Trump last week, earlier today, an estimated 250 protesters showed up at the senator’s local office.
“Things are happening so fast in Washington,” said Jennifer McDowell, co-chair of the local Tuesdays with Toomey. “It feel like every 15 minutes something happens that we have to stand against.”
On Friday, Trump signed an executive order barring foreigners from several majority-Muslim nations from entering the United States, a move that has generated serious backlash domestically and abroad. But yesterday, Toomey released a statement supporting the executive order.
“I support the administration’s decision to increase vetting and temporarily suspend the admission of certain individuals from states that sponsor or provide safe havens to terrorists, or are too weak to prosecute terrorists within their borders. Terrorists have successfully infiltrated refugee populations entering Europe and gone on to commit heinous acts of barbarity. I have long been concerned about our ability to distinguish between predominantly peaceful and innocent refugees, and the likely rare, but lethal, terrorists in the midst of those refugees coming from terror havens and lawless lands. That is why I, along with a bipartisan majority of the House and Senate, supported the SAFE Act, which called for enhanced vetting,” Toomey said in a statement.
Many of the people who turned out today opposed Toomey’s support for the executive order with signs and chants saying “refugees are welcome here.” Other protesters marched to protect women’s reproductive rights and to ask Toomey not to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and the expansion of Medicaid passed under President Barack Obama’s administration.
“The people we serve, they depend on the Affordable Care Act. They depend on Medicaid expansion,” said Kim Evert, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania. “If you take away the Affordable Care Act, if you take away Medicaid expansion, it hurts women’s health”.
Hundreds marched past Toomey’s office and stopped at the Smithfield Street Bridge, where they invited participants to share their health-care stories.
One woman said she’s had cancer four times in the past 11 years. Another man told the crowd the story of his mother, who he says died because she couldn’t get health insurance. And a woman said that a family member couldn’t receive a life-saving transplant until the doctor was told whether the person could afford post-op medications; the only way her family member could pay for these medications, the march participant said, was through Medicaid.
“I felt like the only power I had available is to put my body in the street,” said another protester, Jennifer Lawton.
In addition to the street protests, thousands have been flooding Toomey’s offices with calls and, when those calls weren’t answered, they turned to the fax machine. According to a list compiled by the website Fax Zero, which lets people send faxes for free, in the past 24 hours, Toomey has received more faxes from users than any other representative, clocking in at 1,660.
“Toomey needs to understand that he works for all of us,” said Melissa Harkes. “I’m hoping other people see us protesting and making a difference.”
This article appears in Jan 25-31, 2017.
The people protesting are demanding that others pay for their stuff. They are not happy with the results of a free country because freedom relieves the producers from this demand.
What the protestors want is a country not based on freedom but one based on using force to steal for the benefit of the politically powerful.
Bill, if I understand your convoluted comment, you seem to be saying that freedom has something to do with economic production and that these protesters are wanting other to pay their way. I think you confuse a particular issue of economics with one of immigration and wind up not making much sense.
Dear Values Count, I was referring to Kim Evert’s quote in the article where she voices her support of the ACA and Medicade expansion.
I pay much more in taxes than I receive from the government yet my vote only counts and much as those from people that contribute nothing and actually are a massive drain on our economic system. I believe everyone should carry their own weight. I believe that it is wrong to allow people who are burdens to society to determine how much they will steal in taxes from those who produce.
The ACA, Medicade, and the like exist to force the producers in the County to pay ransom to those more politically powerful. It has nothing to do with freedom or with the principals under which this Country was founded. The ratio of producers to takers has trended sharply toward there being fewer and fewer producers. Currently, the ratio is about 50-50. What do you plan to do when there are 9 takers for 1 producer? Is your plan to keep raising taxes on the producer and keep lowering expectations on the takers?
Sure there is income disparity. But there also is effort and ambition disparity. If we are going to share the wealth then we should also share the hard work, stress, and all the things that go behind earning a high income. I challenge to you randomly ask 10 small business owners if they think that the work ethic of people in general has declined in the last 10 or 20 years.
Concerning the protesters, it is easy to be generous with other people’s money. That’s why the liberals are so anxious to allow anybody into our Country. ‘THEY DIDN’T BUILD THAT’ so why should they care about giving it away?
Bill, you are SO RIGHT. I am a lawyer with so much AMBITION and have plenty of HARD WORK, STRESS, and INCOME. I am a PRODUCER! Then my ASSHOLE INFANT NEPHEW had the nerve (the absolute nerve!) to be a “drain on society” by DELIBERATELY DEVELOPING a fatal blood cancer in his 18 month old body. I can’t believe his jerk parents aren’t willing to pay the $1.2 million his treatment cost out of pocket. I mean, right now they are devastated by grief but HEY, if you are going to have a kid you should be PREPARED to pay millions of dollars for cancer treatment, have your home foreclosed and move under a bridge with the rest of your children. I AM TOTALLY THE VICTIM HERE, amirite?!?
Dear CityofBridges,
I am very sorry about your nephew. Please tell me how much I owe to this person I do not know and to whom I’ve not harmed. Are you going to expect the same ‘contribution’ from everyone or will you let the lazy people in our society off the hook?
Please know that the money you take from me was intended to go toward making a better life for my family. I don’t know why I do not deserve the right to decide if the money I create from nothing goes toward them or if it should be turned over to people like you who will decide where it is best spent. Does it matter to you if I am saving my money for the day that someone in my family has a similar illness?
Blood cancer is terrible beyond description, especially for an infant. However, there are a great many less terrible situations that exist and who is to say where the line is drawn to determine when it is permissible to force someone to pay for another person’s needs.
I’ve always wondered why forced charity should be limited to those people within our borders. If we task ourselves with caring for the world’s population, lots and lots of people in this country will need to significantly lower their standard of living for the benefit of the truly poor – poor by the world’s standard makes the poorest person in this country look like a king.
Bill, you are way off. You of course have the right to your opinion. Every American has the right to be a selfish asshole, I believe that is in the constitution somewhere…. but to think that protesters are a bunch of lazy people wanting “others to pay for their stuff” shows you pay no attention to the protests. For example, I walked in the women’s march with my wife and children. I am a protester. I went to the Pgh Airport after the ridiculous Trump executive order. I am a protester.
I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 13 years, then quit to open my own business. I am now an employer who provides retirement, healthcare and (what I consider to be) good pay to roughly 50 employees. Am I not the mighty “producer” that you are? Am I not pulling my weight as you are? Furthermore, should my vote not count as much as a business owner who makes more money than I do or employs 200 people vs my 50? Should I only get 25% of her vote? Your desire to not have a penny of your money go to help others does not make you the patriot that I’m sure you consider yourself to be.
Concerning “forced charity”, I don’t believe that America is great because of how we protect every penny of our richest “producers”, I believe we are great because of how we protect our citizens who are in need. The fact that we take care of our citizens regardless of the difficulties of their situations is a strenght, not a weakness. Lastly, before making stupid partial quotes like “they didn’t build that”, look up the full statement. Obama didn’t tell me I didn’t build my business, he told me I didn’t build the infrastructure to allow my business to operate. I didn’t build my own bridges and pave my own roads. He was correct in his statement. I have never paved a road. Please read and educate yourself before speaking.