(Georgia Recorder) — Sen. Jon Ossoff faced pointed questions from fired Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers and others at a Marietta town hall meeting Friday.
The Atlanta-based CDC has seen mass layoffs as part of the Trump administration’s widespread government cuts.
Frustrated former employees at the town hall said the firings are misguided and will harm public health. Several members of a group called Fired but Fighting said Ossoff is not doing enough to help.
“We want to know why we have gotten no response from your staff,” asked Abby Tighe, a former public health advisor in the CDC’s division of overdose prevention who was let go in February. “We are a huge coalition. We have emailed, we have called, we have tried many times to meet with you and your staff to talk about the concerns that we have from public health, and we have been ignored. We are a huge constituency and we protect you and everyone else in this room from public health disaster.”
Tighe also asked what Ossoff will do as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to help fund public health.
“Let me say that this is what democracy is all about, folks, and I welcome tough questions,” Ossoff said. “I welcome criticism. I ask to be held accountable. That’s the purpose of events like this, and unlike some of my colleagues, we have not pre-screened these questions. I’m not reading them from a list that my staff gave me. We’re opening it up to my constituents.”
That last part was a dig at Rome Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who held a town hall not far from Marietta last week and is reportedly considering a run for Ossoff’s seat when he is up for re-election next year.
Ossoff’s seat is seen as one of the most vulnerable in the nation and his race is expected to be expensive, hard-fought and close.
Ossoff told the Fired but Fighting members that he supports them and pledged to meet with them in the coming days to discuss how to provide further assistance.
“CDC accounts, other (Health and Human Services) public health accounts, and global health accounts will be among my priorities on the Appropriations Committee – provided we can get bipartisan cooperation to do an actual budget,” he said. “You’ll recall what happened just a couple of months ago, when, on a partisan basis, Republicans in Congress basically signed a blank check for the administration. I will work to avoid that. I will work to make sure that CDC funding, HHS public health funding, and global health funding are robust and protected, and I will continue to do everything I can to hold accountable (United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) and the new leadership of CDC for these outrageous cuts to the CDC’s workforce, which put the American people at risk.”
Speaking after the town hall, Tighe said she is still skeptical but said she is encouraged by the offer for a meeting and the chance to work together for fired workers.
“I would love for him to talk more about how he’s trying to fold in Republicans who might care about public health,” she said. “I’m not hearing anybody talk about that, and I would love to see kind of how that’s working or at least giving us the opportunity to come and help him develop talking points to bring more people into the fold because this is going to have to be a big tent.”
Georgia Republicans have been largely indifferent to the CDC cuts publicly. After the first round in February, Gov. Brian Kemp, who is another potential Senate challenger, said “government can stand a little right-sizing.” Suwanee Republican U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick said he asked the White House to slow the pace of the firings after being caught in the crosshairs of an angry town hall, telling the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in February that “I think we’re just moving a little too fast.”
Sarah Boim, a former communication specialist with the CDC, also welcomed the chance for a meeting.
“I’m shocked that he has not been standing up more because we drive a lot of the economic activity where we live and we’re generally blue voters so he should be listening to us,” she said.
Kate Denny, a mom from Avondale Estates, expressed frustration at what she characterized as a lack of opposition in opposing Trump.
“You keep saying that there isn’t a magic button, and I recognize that you’re a senator and not in the House, and everything that Trump is doing is leading us down (the path to) authoritative rule. Why are there no calls for impeachment?” she said.
“Do you think that there’s nothing more that can be done? No! Do something more. I like you, and I will vote for you if you are brave and you do what we need,” she added.
Ossoff said he understands the frustration and that he believes Trump’s conduct “has already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment by the United States House of Representatives.”
“I also have no choice but to be candid with you about the situation that we face and the tools that are at our disposal, as strongly as I agree with you,” he added. “And I regret if this is an unwelcome response, but my job is to be honest with you. The only way to achieve what you want to achieve is to have a majority of the United States House of Representatives. Believe me, I’m working on it every single day, every single day.”
Responding to the exchange on X, the National Republican Senatorial Committee called Ossoff’s comments “disgusting.”
“Of course, Senator Jon @ossoff wants to overturn the will of Georgia voters who just elected President Trump.”
Trump, who narrowly lost Georgia in 2020, defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia last year by about 115,000 votes, winning with about 50.7% of the vote in a politically divided state.
