This website is best viewed in a browser that supports web standards.

Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.

Listen Live
Donate
MARYVILLE

KXCV-KRNW


News Brief

March 24, 2025 |  By: Iowa News Service

Iowa town halls find empty chairs

Overflow crowds are showing up at town hall meetings in Iowa, which have been planned to allow people to ask questions of their congressional representatives. But lawmakers are not showing up. Constituents are attending town hall meetings at libraries across the state to ask about potential changes to Social Security, cuts to government agencies and rollbacks of D-E-I programs.
Iowa A-F-L President Charlie Wishman says Representatives Mariannette Miller Meeks and Zach Nunn are among lawmakers who haven't shown up to listen.

"...and if they dont show up, we still have crowds that are stadning room only or overflowing just to try to talk to an empty chair.", noted Wishman. 

The Department of Government Efficiency, loosely overseen by Space X and Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced plans to terminate leases for seven federal office buildings in Iowa, including the IRS, the Food and Drug Administration and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Wishman says the cuts mean terminating important positions for federal works in Iowa. Wishman states, "...bird flu people or they work at the disease lab up in Ames or like something that really needs staffed."

Wishman says since lawmakers didn't show up to the scheduled town hall meetings, attendees wrote their questions on postcards, which he says will be delivered to the congressional representatives' offices.