Philly-area workers impacted by Trump’s ‘indiscriminate’ cuts are pushing back, at Democrats’ urging: ‘It felt just so cold’

As hundreds of people poured into the Colonial Theatre in downtown Phoenixville this week, they were handed popcorn and index cards inviting them to share their stories of how cuts to the federal workforce and spending have impacted them.

“Use your voice to help those around you understand how these recent actions are impacting you,” U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D., Pa.) said at her town hall.

Democrats in the Philadelphia region have little power to curb President Donald Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s slashing of federal government jobs and some programs. A GOP-backed budget resolution cleared the House this week along party lines, promising more cuts that Democrats warn could impact Medicaid, which provides health coverage for low-income and disabled Americans. Trump, meanwhile, issued a directive to agency heads this week to find more reductions.

That leaves Democrats, absent voting power or a larger means of fighting back in Republican-dominated Washington, trying to leverage the stories they’re hearing at home to win over public opinion. Armed with voicemails and emails and social media confessionals, it’s also a campaign to show the range of people who make up the federal workforce.

“This is about the people who make sure you don’t poison your kids when you sit them down to dinner, people who make sure when you go on vacation or a business trip, your plane doesn’t fall out the damn sky,” said Philadelphia State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, a vice chair to the Democratic National Committee. “Those are the folks they are getting rid of, not to make our government more efficient but to have as much chaos as possible.”

Houlahan started “Stories from the Sixth,” a daily post on X, the platform Musk owns, where she shares quotes from people affected by the Trump administration’s first month. Other members of Congress have followed suit. The Democratic National Committee has a call on its website to encourage people to write in with their stories.

The largest spotlight could be on Tuesday, when House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) has urged Democratic members to invite constituents affected by recent layoffs or cuts as special guests for Trump’s address to Congress.

How effective the campaign has been at growing opposition to Trump’s reductions is difficult to ascertain. Overall, Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency efforts to slash the size of the federal government were supported by 59% in a February Reuters/Ipsos poll, including a third of Democratic Party voters.

But the same survey found 58% of respondents were concerned about cuts impacting government programs like Social Security payments and college financial aid.

Some Republicans have experienced anecdotal backlash at town halls, prompting GOP leaders to suggest members conduct fewer in-person events.

By illustrating everyday, middle-class people who make up the federal workforce, Democrats also hope to recast a narrative that the government is run by elite career employees.

“When [Trump] says the ‘deep state’ and ‘drain the swamp,’ I don’t understand what that means. The people I worked with were all such hardworking, diligent people passionate about improving education outcomes for kids — that’s what we wanted,” said Alex, a Delaware County mother of two who was this month let go from the Institute of Education Sciences, the research and statistics arm of the Department of Education.

A probationary employee, Alex didn’t want to use her last name for fear of retaliation as she looks for a new job. She took a pay cut from the private sector because working for the department was her dream job. Her former team researches best practices in education, including classroom interventions and teacher training. She was at a local school board meeting when she got texts from colleagues who’d been laid off and learned soon after that she was as well.

”It felt just so cold. I know layoffs happen, right? I get it. However, the government is not a corporation. The government doesn’t exist to maximize profits. It exists to improve lives and public safety, and these indiscriminate cuts to programs and people that prioritize short-term cost cutting are really deteriorating the long-term public good.”

Jessica Fair was the historical architect at Valley Forge Historical Park and Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site until two weeks ago.

Her job was overseeing renovation and preservation projects to ensure they met requirements for historical buildings, like Washington’s Headquarters, where Gen. George Washington lived while commanding the Continental Army during the Revolution. The stone structure was in the midst of planned renovations after some hurricane damage last year.

“We’re coming up on the 250th anniversary of America and so of course you’re going to want to preserve the most well-known historic building within Valley Forge,” Fair said. “Is that work, or is the restoration/preservation of so many other historic buildings around the parks going to happen now? I don’t know.”

Fair, a mother of three who lives with her kids and husband in Chester County, said she knows she’ll land on her feet, but it was gutting losing her dream job, one she thought she’d retire in after a career safeguarding history for the next generation.

“Sometimes I’m really angry and sometimes I’m really sad but what scares me is, up until this point I wouldn’t have thought anybody had any issue with the national parks.”

Outside the Houlahan town hall this week, Christopher Manos, 62, was one of about 600 people turned away when the event hit capacity.

Manos, a Trump voter, wasn’t there to complain about the administration but to hear how his Democratic representative in Congress is talking about it.

“Donald Trump campaigned on everything that he’s doing,” Manos said. “There was an overwhelming vote by the American people, not only the popular vote, the Electoral College, to do what he’s doing. Elon Musk was on the campaign trail with him.”

Manos, a digital media producer from West Chester, dismissed complaints that the cuts have been overly broad and could damage services people rely on. “What they’re discovering is that there’s a tremendous amount of waste, fraud, and abuse in the expenditures. … You can’t have a federal government that won’t allow we the people to audit them. We have every right to find out how every single penny is being spent by these people.”

The Associated Press reported this week that nearly 40% of the federal contracts that DOGE canceled aren’t expected to save the government any money because they’d been previously allocated and must be spent.

The White House has argued that many of those contracts are on auto-renewal and would eventually save taxpayers money.

Houlahan’s town hall also exhibited some frustration Democrats have with their own party.

The first question posed to Houlahan during the Q&A session this week: Why doesn’t it feel like Democrats are doing anything in Washington?

“I understand your frustration and I feel it through social media and through the phone calls that we receive,” Houlahan said. “I know that you’re incredibly anxious. I am, too. I think we’re all trying to find our legs and trying to figure out how and where we can push back.”

Houlahan was also candid about frustrations with Republicans who express private concerns with Trump but public approval. She said some have told her they fear primary challengers, others think the courts will intervene or that “Trump and Elon will tire themselves out.”

“There are less than 10 who have said something brave, and once one goes, more will go,” she said.

Some signs indicate growing discontent with Trump’s first few months. Several rallies around the Philadelphia region drew several thousand protesters. At Houlahan’s event, half of the attendees raised their hands to say it was their first time attending a town hall.

The real challenge for Democrats, said strategist J.J. Balaban, is how to reach low-information voters who don’t engage much in politics and would probably be unlikely to go hear a politician speak for 90 minutes on a Monday. That’s the group that Democrats lost a lot of ground with in 2024.

“A lot of what Trump and Republicans in Congress have been doing — cutting Medicaid, firing park service employees — is deeply unpopular,” he said. “The challenge for Democratic elected officials is to get information that is credible about what team Trump is doing in Washington to voters who try to avoid political news. It will take creativity and hard work to get the right information to the people who most need to hear it.”