Both congressmen representing Hanover, Rob Wittman (R-CD1) and John McGuire (R-CD5), made news last week. Several hundred of Wittman’s constituents, frustrated by his refusal to hold a Town Hall, showed up for the office hours of his Midlothian satellite office last week. In the emotional meeting with a Wittman staffer the constituents expressed a wide range of concerns including the indiscriminate, possibly illegal cuts to the federal workforce, the proposed draconian cuts to Medicaid, and anger about DOGE access to sensitive personal data. In return they received no satisfactory answers. Local press covered the meeting, which was amplified nationally by a long segment on The Rachel Maddow Show.
In response to this and other bad press Speaker of the House Mike Johnson advised Republicans to not hold further Town Halls and suggested that the constituents expressing their free speech rights were in fact paid agitators. HDC members and TAN readers were among those present, so TAN understands the insult and disrespect of Johnson’s accusations. Also, Wittman removed future office hours from his Williamsburg and Midlothian sites.
Call Rob Wittman (202-225-4261 or 804-730-6595) or visit his office during the hours a staff member will be present. https://wittman.house.gov/officehours/. Other groups are planning to visit during these hours also.
John McGuire held a telephone Town Hall last Thursday that was littered with McGuire repeating disinformation. For example he used 150 year olds receiving social security as an example of waste, fraud, and abuse although that claim has been thoroughly debunked. COBOL the programming system social security uses defaults to a 150 year old date if no birthdate for the recipient is available, so to the uninformed it may look like a 150 year old is a recipient. McGuire should be alerted to his error and asked to correct it with the constituents on the call.
When talking with Wittman or McGuire (202-225-4711) staff tell them you are a constituent exercising free speech rights and find it insulting to be called a paid protester. Tell them that the indiscriminate DOGE cuts and the budget bill they voted for will rob veterans, the disabled, and children of essential life services. Cutting USAID funding stops our ability to help treat and track the spread of diseases. If the cuts endure Ebola, AIDS, monkeypox, and Marburg virus outbreaks could make their way to our shore, which would be less humane and much more expensive than treating them at their source. All these services could be restored if Congress would enact a modest tax increase on billionaires.
Also tell them that the way Trump and Vance ambushed Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Friday was a disgrace to our country and a betrayal of American values. They clearly were spouting Russian disinformation which is unacceptable and dangerous to our national security. In abandoning Ukraine, and possibly NATO, the U.S. is siding with a murderous, brutal dictator who invaded a sovereign democracy. Insist that Wittman and McGuire condemn Trump’s position on Ukraine.
Continue to use the 5 Calls app to easily and regularly contact our representatives. They provide up-to-date scripts. 
