U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) spent 30 minutes Friday morning catching up with Maryland state legislators who represent Montgomery County residents.
While some of the virtual briefing involved mutual praise and compliments, Van Hollen spent time noting what is being done on the federal level to counter cuts by the Trump Administration.
“We all have to defend our state against a lawless president,” Van Hollen said, specifically calling out “this out-of-control ICE operation.”
He noted that ICE agents have been “rounding up thousands and thousands” of people, adding, “Maryland remains very much a target here for ICE.”
He urged the state legislators to continue working to shield Maryland residents and particularly complimented the county’s Trust Act and the Unmask ICE Act.
Van Hollen said the Democrats in Congress will continue to vote against funding for the Department of Homeland Security “unless fundamental changes of how it controls itself” are made. However, he added, he is not optimistic that “the White House is going to reign in ICE in any meaningful way.”
The Democratic party also will seek ways to reverse cuts to social service programs and the Affordable Care Act.
Van Hollen predicted that the federal government is creating a plan to eliminate 50,000 more federal workers, calling it “the next shoe to drop.” The federal government is working out a plan to eliminate merit-based positions and fill them with political employees, he said.
On a more positive note, Van Hollen said cuts to the National Institutes of Health were eliminated and its budget actually increased. “We fully funded NIST,” which the federal government wanted to cut, he said.
Van Hollen also said that he, along with U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) and Reps. Jamie Raskin (Md.-8th) and April McClain Delaney (Md.-6th), are keeping a close eye on the Potomac Interceptor Pipeline collapse that sent sewage flowing into the Potomac River.
Maryland legislators asked Van Hollen about disability rights as a result of cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, funding for Metro, how to obtain data that the federal government no longer lists on its websites and funding for infrastructure projects.
Van Hollen acknowledged the need for all those issues to be addressed, stating, “We are going to have a whole lot of rebuilding once we get the chance.”
Van Hollen ended the meeting by stating, “We are all in this together. We all have the same constituents.”
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