Mental health, education, health insurance options, President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearings, prescription drug costs, the country’s borders, and a variety of other topics kept the 100-plus crowd’s attention Tuesday evening, January 21, as Democratic US Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (CT-05) spoke with constituents. The crowd assembled after 6 pm in the Newtown Community Center.

Before opening the floor to questions from attendees, Rep Hayes talked about her first year in Congress.

“A lot has happened in the past year,” which has been her first in Congress, she said. She could “never imagine what happened in Congress” in that time, referring back to government shut-downs, endless “legislating” and “roll call votes” and the issue of a presidential impeachment. In December, she said, “I thought we were going to have a war-and-peace vote,” regarding the government’s actions in foreign countries.

Her first year was a “baptism by fire,” Rep Hayes said. A Waterbury resident, she has spent her year traveling to and from Washington, DC, keeping a “crazy schedule.” She said, “I’m there to do a job. I can’t represent my people if I am not in the room, gavel-to-gavel,” during legislative discussions, she said.

She has concentrated on getting funding to constituents, grants, and “trying to educate people,” about how her office may be of help.

“I take my job seriously; I’m a Congresswoman, even for the people who didn’t vote for me,” she said. “When I vote, I know not everyone will like it,” but she will speak directly to people who may call her office and “don’t like something.” She said she wants to understand “and talk to people.”

Before Rep Hayes took the floor, First Selectman Dan Rosenthal addressed the opportunity to speak with a federal government representative directly.

“The good thing about local government is you can interact… state government and up — it’s harder to interact,” Mr Rosdenthal said.

Regarding the country’s current polarized political status, he said, “People are losing friends over it. Sad.” He noted the importance of expressing thoughts, different opinions, and to talk “with respect despite views.” Mr Rosenthal said he applauded Ms Hayes for being in Newtown on Tuesday.

Rep Hayes’ aides had collected written questions from residents from both Newtown and surrounding towns, which were held in a jar. Pulling a slip of paper from the jar one at a time revealed questions from those who chose to submit them. As aides read names, some audience members stood, posing their questions to Rep Hayes.

Q&A

Why did she support the presidential impeachment?

According to Wikipedia, “Three presidents have been impeached by the House of Representatives in US history: Andrew Johnson in 1868, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Donald Trump in 2019. Johnson and Clinton were acquitted by the Senate and not removed from office. Trump’s Senate trial began on January 16, 2020.

“The Constitution of the United States gives Congress the authority to remove the president from office in two separate proceedings. The first one takes place in the House of Representatives, which impeaches the president by approving articles of impeachment through a simple majority vote. The second proceeding, the impeachment trial, takes place in the Senate. There, conviction on any of the articles requires a two-thirds majority vote and results in the removal from office.”

“I had questions,” Rep Hayes said. “I didn’t know how anyone could see what I saw, and hear what I was hearing, and not have questions. So, I supported the inquiry. I listened to the hearings.”

She felt there was “enough for two articles to be drafted.” Mentioning the “abuse of power,” she said again, “I thought there was enough to ask questions. What I saw gave me pause.”

People have asked, she said, about Joe Biden and Hilary Clinton — a current and past Democratic contender running for US president — who both have also faced public criticism.

“I am dealing with acts of the current president," Hayes said. "Right is right and wrong is wrong, no matter who is doing it. I voted to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate and now it’s in the Senate’s hands.”

Another question asked about her plans to improve care for mental health.

“I agree about addressing the crises,” Rep Hayes said.

She also has “secured money” for research and “addressing the opioid crisis.” She said, “Health care is the number one priority of this Congress.”

Mentioning HR 3, Rep Hayes spoke briefly about dealing with the “rising cost of drugs,” and how to “require drug companies to negotiate to set fair prices for prescription drugs.” From hayes.house.gov is a press release about legislation that Rep Hayes had sponsored, dated mid-December, which states, “the United States House of Representatives passed HR 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act, a major piece of legislation set to address the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs in America. Included in HR 3 was the Supporting Trauma Informed Education Practices Act, which directs money recouped from drug companies involved in the opioid crisis to grants supporting mental health care for children in schools.”

Critical of high drug prices, she said, “There is no reason for that. At the end of the day, people are dying because they can’t afford prescriptions.”

She talked briefly about HR 3, saying the drug companies are “gouging customers. It takes someone to say, ‘We can’t have this.’ It’s a huge priority.”

What is being done to make schools a safer environment?

She noted bills she has introduced for “support services in schools.” Frustrated that budget money often cuts out “non-certified personnel,” Rep Hayes said, “They’re there to help kids in crisis.”

Also listed on her website is an announcement that “Congresswoman Hayes voted for the Rebuild America’s Schools Act (HR 865), which would invest $100 billion in America’s public schools.” Read more at hayes.house.gov.

Her site also records her stance on guns in schools, and potentially arming teachers. She is quoted as stating, “The issue of student safety is deeply personal for me,” said Rep Hayes. “We should never put teachers in the position of having to pull a firearm inside a classroom. We should never leave children to fear the presence of more guns in their schools and communities. And we should never use federal dollars to siphon resources from our children’s academic success. I’m proud to lead the way with the support of my colleagues in putting forth legislation to keep guns out of our schools.”

To the crowd gathered Tuesday, she said, “We have money for gun violence research. We have to study the problem. Studying data is so much better than opinions.”

Rep Hayes also heard questions about the electoral college, and personal accounts of spouses and children in dire need of health care that became exorbitant.

How is the government helping people with excessive medical bills?

Regarding the cost of drugs, Rep Hayes said, “People in every state are suffering for that.”

She mentioned a bill to keep Social Security and Medicare “sustainable.” Also featured on her website are headlines to articles where she sponsors legislation, including “Rep Hayes Cosponsors Medicare For All Act of 2019” and “Rep Hayes Leads Bill to Lower Prescription Drug Costs…”

About the problems with Medicare and Social Security, she said Tuesday, “We can’t continue to do nothing.”

She also said that the Affordable Care Act was “never meant to be perfect,” and could continually be “renegotiated.” However, “If it goes away, people will lose health insurance.”

Rep Hayes said, “The story is too common. In the richest country, I can’t understand why people can’t get life-saving health care.” About Affordable Care Act, she said, “Keep the parts that work; to do nothing because we can’t agree is unconscionable.”

She addressed questions about caucuses, house votes, bipartisanism, concerns about undocumented citizens’ rights, and the country’s borders.

“Our immigration system is outdated,” said Rep. Hayes. “Our system is not meant to house families,” and can’t handle the “influx of people.”

Talking about undocumented people, she said, “People will say, ‘Did they come here legally?’”

“No matter how they come to us, it’s unconscionable that if they are not properly documented, then life has no value. It’s a morality difference.”

Rep Hayes said, “I protect human life. I help people so they don’t have to live in the shadows.”

She also voted for border funding because, she said, “they should be protected.” She also believes there should be oversight.

“We need border protection,” Rep Hayes said. She added that “It needs to change. We need to receive and document people and know who is in this country.”

She also “wholeheartedly supports the idea that we are a nation of immigrants. You can’t shut the doors and say, ‘The country is full.’”

Coming up again was another concern about the high costs of personal health insurance.

“Our health care system is broken,” said Rep Hayes. No matter what job you have, you should have access to health care.”

Rep Hayes is not a partisan voter, she said.

“I try to be a good steward over the seat to which I was elected. To me, if it’s good legislation, I vote on it.”

She said, “I am a wife, a Christian, a teacher, a friend — all these things before you get to Democrat.” She did not run for a “title,” she said. “My name and my integrity are more important than a title. That finger-pointing will not come from your representative. It will not come from me.”

Of the questions she was not able to answer, Rep Hayes promised residents that her staff would get back to them with resources.

Rep Jahana Hayes had been a public school teacher in Connecticut for more than 15 years and was recognized in 2016 as the National Teacher of the Year. Currently serving her first term in the US House of Representatives, Rep Hayes sits on the Committees on Education & Labor and Agriculture and represents Connecticut’s 5th District.