Constituents from around the region asked a stuffed chicken questions about major social issues outside U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick's Scranton office Monday afternoon.
The plush yellow toy was a stand-in for the Republican senator and his staff, who demonstrators say have not been answering the phones at McCormick's offices around Pennsylvania.
“Does that seem okay to everybody?” asked Jessica Brittain, Action Together NEPA's communications director.
"No!" the crowd of over 100 shouted back.
Action Together NEPA, a progressive nonprofit, brought the chicken during a mock town hall along Lackawanna Avenue.
People lining the sidewalk asked if the Republican senator will support Social Security and people with disabilities, how he plans to address taxing millionaires and billionaires, and if he supports cutting jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies.
"You're a constituent, you're a constituent, you're a constituent, you're a constituent, you're all his constituents,” Brittain said. “So it's really important to be asking those questions.”
X post: 'All of our offices' are staffed
McCormick's office did not respond to a request for comment.
A March 13 post on McCormick’s X account said McCormick visited his Allentown office, and that “all of our offices across the Commonwealth continue to be fully operational, staffed, and serving constituents."
He also frequently posts about his weekly Keystone Coffee with Constituents event in Washington, D.C., and on March 16 he posted about his weekly newsletter.
But progressive organizations around the state are organizing “Mondays with McCormick" to pressure the senator to hear their concerns and answer their questions, according to ActionTogether NEPA.
They also plan to hold rallies outside the offices of other lawmakers, and organizers encouraged those gathered in Scranton to share their concerns with elected officials at all levels, including municipal leaders and school board members.
Social Security's status questioned
Jill Carlson from Bloomsburg held a microphone and asked the chicken — as if it were McCormick — why the Social Security office in the town is closed.
"No work is going on down there. The flag is still flying at half mast. It's in tatters. There's no sign it's ever going to reopen. What's happening?” she said.
Carlson said a sign on the door says there’s no date for it to reopen and to call for help.
“It was just announced that they're cutting the staff that answers the phones. So how are people supposed to talk to anyone?” she said.
More than 10% of the agency’s workforce was laid off, the Associated Press reported. Dozens of offices throughout the U.S. were closed as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Social Security Administration’s website says there is no in-person service at the Bloomsburg office.
What McCormick has said
Whether or not McCormick is speaking to constituents across the state, his views on some of those issues can be gleaned from what he has said in media interviews.
Lauren Mayk of NBC10 News Philadelphia asked McCormick on March 7 if he was comfortable with the cuts that resulted in lost jobs in Pennsylvania.
“Yes, in the following sense, I think that what the president promised to do was look very carefully at the spending in our government, reign in the bureaucracy, shake up Washington, that’s what he said. That’s what DOGE is designed to do, to create transparency for the tax payers and pull in that spending," McCormick said to Mayk.
"My understanding is that there are employees in Pennsylvania that have lost their jobs. We need to treat those folks with absolute dignity and respect, thank them for their service. You know in the private sector this happens, people lose their jobs. This is now happening in government, that’s a hard thing for any family, so we need to help those people transition onto the next thing.”
Education, environment questions
Ed Gragert from Milford is a retired educator who attended Monday's rally. He trained teachers from the U.S. and abroad to use technology through the USAID program, which the Trump administration has severely defunded through DOGE.
Gragert has two grandchildren in elementary school.
"I want to know, senator, what are you doing to support public education in this country and support our schools?” he said.
The U.S. Department of Education on March 11 announced a nearly 50% reduction in its workforce, including 600 voluntary resignations and more than 1,300 people being placed on administrative leave as of March 21.
Julie McMonagle from Jackson Twp. in Luzerne County asked what the senator is doing to protect air, water and food quality.
"We have a long history of polluted water, polluted air, and contaminated food. In this country, in the 1970s we saw a wave of regulations to protect that and protect human health … He supports deregulation. And I want to know why he supports that. When Americans are going to die, he doesn't seem to care. I want to know why he doesn't care that Americans are going to die from polluted air, polluted water, polluted food?”
McCormick: 'It’s an age of deregulation'
One of McCormick's campaign promises was to lower energy prices and create energy jobs by making America energy dominant.
He appeared on Fox Business News' Kudlow show on March 14 to discuss President Donald Trump's promised tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China.
“The tariffs are going to create a little bit of uncertainty in the moment but what everybody should be focused on is the areas of certainty and that’s energy dominance and unlocking the energy sector," he told host Larry Kudlow.
"It’s an age of deregulation ... We haven’t seen this kind of focus and reduction of regulations, it’s $1.5 to $2 billion dollars of investment. .... The tax cuts are going to be made permanent, that’s going to happen through this process of reconciliation in the coming weeks and month and so the American consumer and businesses should feel like there’s a lot of good things coming their way."
