Rep. Tom Reed has announced his first set of Town Hall Meetings since the Donald Trump became President. On Saturday, February 18 our congressman will meet with constituents at two locations in Chautauqua County, one in Cattaraugus County, and one in Allegany County:
9:15–North Harmony Senior Citizens Center, 5377 Stow Ferry Road, Ashville, NY 14710
11:00–Pine Valley VFW, 7117 N Main St, Cherry Creek, NY 14723
1:45–Humphrey Fire Department, 4591 Humphrey Rd, Great Valley, NY 14741
4:00–Town of Allen Town Hall, 4949 Klein Road, Fillmore, New York 14735
These are Reed’s first Town Hall meetings since the beginning of the 114th congress started and the first one since Donald Trump has been President. Since Trump took over the presidency there have been:
- massive (world wide) anti-Trump Agenda rallies focusing on protecting the ACA, CIA, EPA, NATO, Medicare, Medicaid, Women’s Rights, LGBTA Rights, Native American Rights, and Voting Rights and Banning Moslems from our country.
- People are worried about Trump talking/tweeting on the use of torture, the use of Nuclear Weapons, and using the Military to take the Iraq’s oil reserves.
- Throw in telling Iran they are “On Notice” for testing conventional weapons, his admiration of Putin, pissing off China by ignoring the “One China” philosophy and that the American Citizens are really going to be paying for The Wall.
- He has recently threaten Mexico, insulted and hung up on the Australian Prime Minister, and asked Americans to pray for Arnold Schwarzenegger because the ratings of “The Apprentice” are low.
- Trump has chosen a Supreme Court Justice, who is very pro-life and pro-Citizen United (“Corporations are People”) and he wants to end the IRS rule that forbids Preachers politicizing from the pulpit .
- Don’t forget the 3 to 5 million illegal voters who all voted for Hillary.
- There will probably be other questionable issues between now and the Town Hall meetings.
Rep.Reed blindly supports Trump. Matter of fact Reed has said “When the president speaks, I am confident that the credibility will continue.”
Notice that Reed’s first Town Halls are going to be in very friendly territory. Trump 
received 68.4% of Allegany County’s votes, the highest in our congressional district. Cattaraugus was third highest (64.5%) and Chautauqua the fourth (59.6%). (Steuben County was 2nd highest pro-Trump rate with 65.4%).
NY23rd-ers who might consider attending one or more of these meetings may not be familiar with the location of Ashville, Cherry Creek, Great Valley or Fillmore. Here’s some near-by towns:
Ashville is 10 miles from Mayville, 12 miles from Jamestown, 25 miles from Fredonia.
Cherry Creek is 16 miles from Gowanda, 18 miles from Fredonia, 22 miles from Jamestown and 28 miles from Salamanca.
Great Valley is 10 miles from Salamanca, 10 miles from Ellicottville, 10 miles from Allegany, 20 miles from Cuba and 38 miles from Angelica.
Fillmore is 14 miles from Dalton, 28 miles from Hornell, 25 from Wellsville, 28 from Alfred, 39 from Olean and 48 miles from Naples.
Town Halls are more interesting if you attend in groups. If you are able to attend, videos are wonderful ways to remember how he actually answered the questions. (Let the New NY23rd know if you have pictures/videos.) Even if you can not personally attend, you might know someone who lives near one of the Town Halls. Do them a favor and let them know about the meetings.
Here is a link to a petition for those who live in the NY23rd to sign telling Rep. Reed that we do not support turning Medicare into a voucher program, and not to increase the age to receive Medicare from 65 to 67. Rep. Reed confirmed that the House are considering both of those changes at his Barrington Town Hall (Dec. 10). You might want to get some signatures and hand them into Rep. Reed on February 18! Each petition has spaces for 10 signatures. Yates County Democrats have handed in over 180 signatures to Rep. Reed’s Geneva Office.
For an article about Rep. Reed’s December 10 Town Hall meeting in Barrington (Yates) follow this link. For a transcript of the Barrington Meeting, follow this link. For a copy of Rep. Reed’s Handouts (with comments) follow this link.
Maybe I’ll see you at one of the meetings on the 18th. Let’s hope for good weather.
New NY 23rd 
Tom may tell this story:
“The Problem Solvers Caucus, nearly 40 members strong from both sides of the aisle, will be fighting for common sense principles that impact all Americans – Democrat, Republican, Independent – everyone. It’s a new day in Washington and now is the time for us to work together with new energy to get things done for the American people.”
https://reed.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/gottheimer-and-reed-elected-co-chairs-bipartisan-problem-solvers-caucus
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https://www.facebook.com/events/762262983938825/
Since Tom Reed won’t come to us, let’s go to him!
Despite his concentrated effort to avoid his constituency in Ithaca, we are going to find a way to make ourselves heard. A group of us, because a road trip by oneself is lonely, will be going to his town hall meeting in Cherry Creek to make sure he remembers that he represents us too!
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Thanks for this timely report. I would love to see at least one town hall where the attendees share the same import question ( to them ) For example ” What how does the Trump Administration expect the ban of Muslims from entering our country help the overall country?” Or
Isn’t it doublespeak to say you ‘care women’s” reproductive health, when you plan to put PP out of business ( since Planned Parenthood helps millions of women receive check ups, and birth control to help fight against abortion?” Or whatever the group decided to address – the use the whole time to only discuss that topic, even if Reed tried to change the subject.
The fewer the topics, and less time Reed has to bloviate on a different topic the more impact each meeting would have.
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I can almost hear sidekick Joe saying “lets move on and give someone else a chance.”
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I would rewrite to make the language of the petition to make it stronger: “We, the undersigned, are residents of the New York 23rd Congressional District who oppose replacing Medicare with a voucher system (aka “Premium Support Payments”) and increasing the age to qualify for Medicare from 65 to 67. We have paid tax to support Medicare all our working lives and are entitled to no less than the level of coverage currently provided. In addition, we support the ACA provision which assesses Additional Medicare Tax on higher earners (over $200k/year), provided as part of ACA to ensure solvency in Medicare. If the ACA provision for Additional Medicare Tax on higher earners is not sufficient to ensure solvency, we support Congress lifting the cap on earnings subject to the Medicare payroll deduction (currently at $118,500) or increasing the payroll deduction (presently at 1.45%) to keep Medicare solvent.”
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Very encouraging to have found this blog, and hopefully meeting some of you this Saturday. I’m in East Otto and planning on attending at least the Humphrey and Fillmore town halls.
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