Kiley Fields Questions in Well-Attended Virtual Town Hall

DISTRICT 3 — Over 25,000 callers participated in a phone-in town hall meeting with Third District Congressman Kevin Kiley on March 17. There appears to have been strong interest in the opportunity to address the Congressman: the meeting was extended by 30 minutes to allow time for more questions, but a number of callers found that they were only able to reach a recording saying they could not join the meeting because of “overwhelming” response. In contrast to the open confrontations reported at some in-person town hall meetings, the tone of this virtual meeting was calm and respectful.

Kiley responded to callers’ questions on a broad variety of issues, many of them related to wide-ranging cuts in programs, funding, and personnel by the Trump administration and its so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Callers raised concerns about cuts in support for children with special needs, medical research, educational loans, the National Weather Service, programs benefitting farmers and seniors and services to veterans.

Several callers expressed concern about the potential effects of cuts to the Forest Service and National Park Service on fire prevention and recreation in the local area. Kiley responded that he has worked since his first term to protect Forest Service jobs and is doing everything he can to “convey a sense of urgency” to the administration about the need for fire mitigation projects to move forward.

Other callers asked Kiley what he would do to protect Social Security and Medicare from being cut back or privatized. He responded that those programs “must be protected” and that his support for Social Security is “strong and will never waver.” With respect to Medicaid, however, he said that while no cuts had been enacted yet, the program represents the “biggest opportunity” to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.

Proposals in Congress to extend the tax cuts passed in 2017 were also questioned by several participants who argued that the cuts had increased the federal deficit and that most of the benefits had gone to wealthy individuals and corporations. Kiley’s responses offered a different perspective. He countered that failing to extend the 2017 cuts would amount to the “biggest tax increase in American history.” The middle class would pay more if the cuts are not extended, he said, because the standard deduction and the child tax credit would be reduced. Kiley added that he would work to lift the cap on deductions for state and local taxes if the cuts are extended. Californians would be likely to benefit from that change due to the state’s higher tax bills.