Hundreds of residents packed into Doylestown Borough Hall last night, filling up every available chair and floor space. But one chair remained empty. That was reserved for Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick.
After months of frustration about Congressman Fitzpatrick’s complicity with the Trump administration, not to mention his years of hiding from constituents by refusing to hold public, in-person town halls, the community organized one for themselves. So despite the fact this week is designated on the Congressional Schedule as district work time, Fitzpatrick not surprisingly ignored repeated invitations to the event.
In Fitzpatrick’s absence, local community leaders took the floor and delivered impassioned speeches about the harm and chaos the Trump Administration’s first two months is causing locally throughout Bucks County.
Former Central Bucks School Board Director Dr. Tabitha Dell’Angelo explained how gutting the Department of Education could hurt local residents.
“Title One provides $18.4 billion to schools serving high numbers of low income students. This is a program that helps close the achievement gap. And if you think that we don’t have Title One schools in Central Bucks, you’re wrong, because we do,” said Dell’Angelo. “Programs like these don’t just benefit individual students. They benefit society. Because when we have an educated populace, it’s good for everyone.”
The next speaker was Rebecca Hone, a longtime advocate for libraries. Ms. Hone explained how President Trump’s March 14 Executive Order directing cuts to The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) will slash critical resources impact libraries and museums in all 50 states and territories.
“Libraries offer so much more than just books and information. They build community. Libraries are one of the few places where everyone is welcome, where there are no expectation of having to spend any money to be there. Where else can you do that?” Ms. Hone noted.
Currently, the IMLS makes up .0046 of the federal budget, a tiny amount for an organization which makes such a profound difference in people’s lives. Hone explained that while our local Bucks County libraries will be impacted, the rural libraries which depend on these institutions for education, information, and community support will be hardest hit.
Heidi Roux, executive director at Immigrant Rights Action, spoke next. She explained that her organization is the only nonprofit that directly serves immigrants in Bucks County. It is donor supported and does not receive any county, state, or federal funding. Roux is the only employee of Immigrant Rights Action, which services thousands of immigrants across Bucks County. She explained that its primary function is to connect immigrants in Bucks County and surrounding areas with access to legal immigration services.
“An immigration case can range from eight to twelve thousand dollars and to get started, you need to retain an attorney. What we do is to help our community access these attorneys by providing legal, free legal consultations, which usually costs about $200 and you usually have to drive to Philly,” said Roux. “So we break the transportation barrier. We break the financial barrier, and when a process is identified for someone to regularize their status, we assist them with $500 from our Legal Defense Fund to get that process started.”
Roux discussed how, while the immigrant community is resilient, the uptick in local ICE raids has caused a lot of anxiety. She stressed the fact that hurting our immigrant community hurts our community and society as a whole.
READ: Central Bucks Community Grapples with the Specter of ICE Raids at Local Schools
“Immigrants are entrepreneurs, business owners. We rely on immigrant labor here in Bucks County, for the service industry, for restaurants, for agriculture, for so much,” she said. “I truly believe immigration is an economic issue. If there was not a demand, there would not be supply.”
After Roux’s speech, local resident Anne Ferguson spoke about Senate Bill 128, also known as the SAVE Act, which will be going to the House floor very soon and is expected to pass. She explained how the SAVE Act’s elimination of online voter registration will impact voters across the country, especially “first time voters, low income citizens and new citizens.”
“Registering in person brings up problems with access. Disabled people already encountered problems with voting, and now we’re going to take one more step, where they have to go to the courthouse to register to vote and navigate more access,” said Ferguson. “An in-person registration requirement would also prevent members of the military serving abroad from easily registering to vote, and in Alaska and Hawaii, people might actually have to get on a plane to fly somewhere to register.”
An even more concerning aspect of the SAVE Act is that it would require citizens to present a government issued photo ID that matches the name on their birth certificate or naturalization papers. Voting clerks who make an error in registering someone to vote can be subject to criminal prosecution.
So, what will this bill mean for the 69 million women who have taken their spouse’s last name and do not have a birth certificate that matches their legal name? Or the 21.3 million Americans who lack immediate access to their birth certificate? Or the millions of transgender folks whose names no longer match their birth certificate? Ferguson explained that the bill is intentionally vague about how these cases would be handled, leaving the real life implications up to the States.
“This bill would make it difficult for so many Americans to register to vote, Republicans and Democrats alike. The right to vote is guaranteed in the Constitution and the 15th, 19th and 26th Amendments further guarantee the right to vote. Something is wrong with Congress to believe that it is necessary to make it more difficult to register to vote,” said Ferguson.
She then urged Fitzpatrick’s empty chair to vote against the SAVE Act.
After Ferguson spoke, local farmers talked about the deep harm the Trump Administration is causing to our small farms.
After 12 years of farming, Teddy Moynihan took a job as a technical assistance provider, tasked with helping to distribute a federal grant to help farmers implement conservation practices to make their farms more efficient, more environmentally sound, and more resilient in the face of extreme weather. During the federal funding freeze last month, Moynihan’s grant was canceled. Moynihan and the 70 other workers at his organization will lose their jobs on April 1.
“Our program has been called a radical left climate policy program. I don’t know what’s radical about helping a farmer write a prescribed grazing plan to make his dairy more efficient. I don’t know what’s leftwing about planting a wind break to protect crops from extreme weather. I don’t know what’s partisan about planting cover crops to build soil and reduce fertilizer expenses,” said Moynihan. “Agriculture and small scale agriculture is not a partisan issue, and it should not be. Just because the word climate was in the name of our program should not mean that this program gets axed.”
He noted that the only time he ever saw empty grocery shelves was during Trump’s last presidency. When he couldn’t find flour in the chain grocery stores, he went to Castle Valley Mill and was able to buy a 10 pound bag of flour milled in Doylestown from grain grown in Riegelsville.
“When things collapse around us, we rely on our community … I don’t begrudge the corn and soy farmers their subsidies. They’re feeding the world,” said Moynihan. “Our local farms are feeding Bucks County, and those are the farms that we need to support.”
Moynihan said his pleas to our Representatives to release the funds and honor the contracts have been met with silence.
“The U.S. government is not honoring signed lawful contracts with farmers. When you take out a loan from the US government and you sign your name on the line, you can’t just decide not to pay right?” said Moynihan.
Tricia Borneman and Tom Murtha of Blooming Glen Farm in Perkasie echoed Moynihan’s concerns.
Blooming Glen Farm was a recipient of the Farm Labor Stabilization program, a two year grant program that helps meet labor challenges by reimbursing farmers for certain practices that create safer, healthier work environments for the farmers, the yearly employees and the seasonal H-2A Visa workers. The program was funded through the American Rescue Act, which made it a target for the current funding freeze.
“There are over 100 farms across the country that have been promised reimbursement by the USDA. Many farms like us have already invested substantial money in the recruitment, transportation, housing and training of their HOA employees at considerable cost, and we have yet to receive a single dollar of reimbursement. If the money does not go through, farms will go out of business,” said Borneman.
READ: Pennsylvania Democrats Don’t Need National Direction. Look Local.
Both Moynihan and Borneman urged constituents to call their representatives and demand that they make good on their financial commitments to farmers.
Josh Fields, co-founder and executive director of The Next Step Program in Doylestown, was the next speaker. The Next Step provides young adults opportunities by helping them find employment and build meaningful lives. He explained why Medicaid is essential to the community he serves.
“Medicaid funds everything from in-home and community based services to employment programs, transportation and critical therapies. It allows young adults to continue learning life skills, working towards their goals and contributing to their communities,” said Fields.
He explained that at The Next Step they see the real impact these services have daily, whether it’s helping young adults get their first job, moving into their own apartment, or simply being a part of the wider community in a meaningful way.
“Medicaid makes that possible. It provides the funding that allows our programs and so many others to exist without it, families would be left with impossible choices, and too many people would fall through the cracks,” said Fields. “But let’s be clear, Medicaid services are not a handout. They’re an investment in people, an investment in their futures. When we support Medicaid, we are saying that people with disabilities deserve the same opportunities that you and I have.”
Tina DiBiaso, a parent of a Next Step client, reiterated the significance of Medicaid.
“Twenty-five years ago, my son was born. At that time, the pediatrician told us that he probably wouldn’t walk till he was five, he might never talk, and if we chose to bring him home, he could be a detriment to his older sister and make her life not as good as it could be. Well, instead of going into an institution (which is his right and still is his right today,) we chose to bring him home and raise him in his community,” she said. “Thankfully, through Medicaid dollars and early intervention, he received physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech, and he walked at two years old …. And let me tell you, that kid can talk now.”
Medicaid has also allowed her son to attend the Next Step day program and provided him with a job coach. He is now a proud employee of the Doylestown Chuck E Cheese.
Elisa, a local resident, spoke next about how she’s been directly harmed by DOGE. She was recently fired from her position as a federal employee at the Department of Treasury. She explained that while the courts have ruled that the terminations were illegal, many agencies, including the Treasury, have not made an effort to actually reinstate employees back into their positions.
“They have told us to not work, not show up to our office buildings, and there’s just no plans as to when or if we will be returning. And some agencies haven’t even informed their fired employees that they are being reinstated,” said Haab. “On the first day of my job, I swore an oath to the Constitution, and it was one of the proudest moments in my career. I worked hard every single day to uphold that oath to serve the American people, and I am so disappointed, and I’m so mad at our elected officials for not taking their oath as seriously. So it’s up to us to remind them of their duty. Their duty is not to themselves. It is not to their special interests. It’s to the American people.”
Larissa Hopwood, one of the organizers of the forum, spoke about how this administration has impacted her, as the parent of a trans child.
“They are attacking trans kids. It’s sowing division within the LGBTQ community. It’s putting the rights and privacy of women and girls at risk. It’s opening them up to invasive and non consensual exams if they decide that they are not feminine enough, which is very problematic. It’s endangering kids who are in the closet,” said Hopwood. “It’s endangering our rights to make medical decisions and to have insurance coverage for our basic decisions, our medical decisions. So it’s starting here with trans and non binary folk, and it is going to spread out amongst the rest of our community.”
Adrienne King, President of the Bucks County NAACP, agreed that the fear has been spreading. She noted the importance of the NAACP in protecting marginalized communities.
“The NAACP has been at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement since its conception. As we sit and we watch the things that are crumbling and taking away all of that work that has been done for years, I want those in the room to know that we here in Bucks County are committed to fighting against that here locally. So while we all are going to take actions to hold our elected officials accountable, we are also making sure that we make ourselves available to support those right here in this county,” said King. “My husband and I also own a local cafe in Perkasie. I cannot tell you the number of Black and Brown immigrants and LGBTQ people that have come to the cafe to find me.”
After the speakers, the floor was open to comments and questions from the community. Diana Leygerman, a Jewish community member and local activist, made note of how Jews have been used to divide the Democratic Party.
“Trump’s administration is weaponizing antisemitism to take away people’s rights and I just want to say that is on purpose … But I want you to know that he’s not going to weaponize fighting antisemitism in our name,” said Leygerman. “Please make sure that you involve Jewish people in your activism because we have been here. We are here. A lot of us are progressives and we are in this fight.”
Other commenters voiced their frustration with Fitzpatrick’s silence. Many felt like the calls to our representatives, protests, and public pressure are not having enough of an impact.
But, Ed Richardson, one of the event organizers, disagrees. He says public pressure is making a difference. He considers the reversal of the federal funding freezes to be a direct result of massive community action.
“It’s keeping up the pressure, it’s not relenting. It’s making sure the phones ring off the hook,” said Richardson.
Event organizer Amy McGahren ended the evening with a list of direct actions the community can take.
Reach out to your local Representatives and demand they take action!
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick:
1717 Langhorne Newtown Rd. Suite 225
Langhorne, PA 19047
Phone: (215) 579-8102
200 North Third Street
Suite 14A/14th Floor
Harrisburg, PA, 17101
Phone: 717-231-7540
320 Market Street, Suite 475E
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: (717) 782-3951
