Mississippians express concern about changes in Washington during town hall meeting

In the wake of changes made by the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency, town halls around the country have been the site of angry exchanges between constituents and some politicians. Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Bolton in Hinds County, began his event by declaring that no topic was off-limits.

“This is where you get an opportunity to ask your elected official any question that you have,” he said. “There's no guardrails. Nothing like that. There's been a lot of things happening in Washington since January 20th, and so many of those things impact one way or another everyone in this audience tonight. It could be Social Security. It could be veterans benefits. It could be Medicare. It could be Medicaid.”

Thompson says Vicksburg, which is in Warren County, was chosen as the site of the first town hall because the county is home to more federal employees than any other part of his district. He acknowledged that many of those gathered had reason to be concerned about their jobs. 

“I think if you work for the federal government, your evaluations ought to determine whether or not you stay,” he said. “We talk to people all the time who say, I got excellent evaluations, and they told me that I either I can retire or be fired, or they tell me, we letting you go because of performance.”

Although Tuesday’s event remained relatively calm, residents voiced several concerns they had with both the Trump administration and the direction of Congress.

“Congressman Thompson, I'm a retired carpenter, and I'm getting a carpenter’s retirement check,” one resident said. “The Biden administration subsidized a lot of the unions. I'm concerned about whether or not Trump will try to rescind those payments.”

Another resident, Bobbie Bigham-Morrow of Vicksburg, asked Congressman Thompson about the legality of DOGE.

“How do you establish an organization such as DOGE without Congress?”

One woman, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal from her federal position, said she is the mother of a probationary federal employee.

“It's one thing to mess with me. It's a whole nother thing when you hurt my baby” she said. “My question to you is, what do I tell my daughter when I go home? Because we have seen the the singing, we have seen the press conferences, we have seen the lawsuits. We have seen the CR pass. I want to know what is the Democratic plan to help stop the the firing of people who don't deserve to be fired?”

Thompson says he has been pushing these issues, particularly those regarding government layoffs, to be settled in court.

“The person who is president of the United States is known to be pushy or a bully,” he said. “What he's done is taken the power of the presidency and expanded it to create another organization. It's being challenged now, and in all probability, we’ll win.”

Thompson agreed with several constituents who believe the changes being made in Washington were dire.

“I've been in Washington over 30 years now, and I've never seen it as bad as it is right now,” he said. “We pick leaders. We change leaders. That's how democracies work. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But you never give up hope.”

Emily May of Vicksburg told Thompson she wasn’t satisfied with the Democrat’s use of the judicial system.

“We're wasting time in courts,” she said. “Democrats need to get tough like they are, like the Republicans are. They're being nasty.”