Metcalfe meets with constituents
ADAMS TWP — State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe hosted two town hall meetings Thursday to update constituents on his work in Harrisburg and answer questions from constituents.
About 20 people attended the morning session held at Adams Township Municipal Building. An evening session was held at Middlesex Township Municipal Building.
Questions ranged from health care to the possibility of getting squash courts in Cranberry Township at the morning town hall.
One person asked Metcalfe, R-12th, about his plans for the future and what his program was.
“My overarching program is to defend your rights while I'm upholding and defending the Constitution,” he said. He aims to move policies forward to help grow the economy and help young people stay in the area.
While he wants to ensure there's clean air and a clean environment for future generations, like that of his 10-month-old granddaughter, Metcalfe said he also wants to make sure the regulatory arm of the government is not overreaching.
Metcalfe said he introduced legislation to defund sanctuary cities in the state that offer protection to illegal immigrants, after being asked about it by an audience member.
“We shouldn't call them sanctuary cities,” he said. “We should call them cities that aid and abet illegal aliens.”
Metcalfe said cities that offer protection to illegal aliens should be held liable for any harm caused by them. He also said the House passed a bill last week that would go after sanctuary college campuses.
Saeed Farooq, a new resident in Cranberry Township and a nationally ranked squash player, asked Metcalfe about the possibility of getting squash courts in Cranberry's Graham Park so he did not have to travel to Wexford to play.
Metcalfe said while he could not support the effort with tax dollars, he would support Farooq in his efforts to get courts in the township park.
Things got a bit heated when Adams resident Nancy Bergmann asked about health care and the possibility of more than 700,000 people on Medicaid losing coverage if the American Health Care Act is passed.
Metcalfe said it's not the government's responsibility to provide health care services.
“We have no rights to health care,” Metcalfe said. “What we should have is a marketplace that encourages the advancement and delivery of health care services. But the government isn't a good deliverer of services.”
Metcalfe said his wife emigrated from Germany, so he has seen socialized medicine systems “fall down, break down and collapse. So we cannot adopt what other nations have had to reject.”
At lthough some residents did not agree with his views, they thanked Metcalfe for his willingness to meet with them and talk openly. Some other lawmakers have taken heat this year for not hosting town halls or not showing up at town hall meetings hosted by constituents.
