Saturday morning, October 18, Rep. Lori Trahan, who represents Acton and surrounding towns in the U.S. House of Representatives, held a town hall meeting at Montachusett Regional Vocational and Technical High School in Fitchburg. The town hall, which was announced in an email to constituents on October 14, was attended by approximately two hundred people, including some from Acton. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance.
After an introduction by former Fitchburg State Senator Jennifer Flanagan, Trahan opened the meeting with a ten-minute speech describing the Trump administration actions that she said were negatively impacting residents. Her speech emphasized the effect of Trump’s actions on health care costs and stated that tax cuts for the billionaire class were being paid for by cuts to health care for everyone else. She stressed the importance of winning back the House and the Senate in 2026 to hold the administration accountable.
She then opened the floor for questions from the audience. The first question asked was about her perspective on ICE actions and whether she would join the weekly Bearing Witness protest at the ICE facility in Burlington. Trahan decried the brutal actions being taken by ICE against people in her district and said that she would attend the Burlington protest if her schedule allowed her to do so.
The next question focused on administration cuts to the U.S. Department of Education, especially to the Office of Special Education and the impact on children with special needs.
A nine-year veteran of the Navy objected that military members who swore allegiance to the Constitution were being asked to violate their oaths and undertake illegal actions such as the attacks on boats near Venezuela.
There were several additional questions over the next 30 minutes, including one on whether Trahan would break ties with AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and return what the questioner said were over $50,000 in contributions from AIPAC, over the Israeli government actions in Gaza. She said that she had signed letters calling for a cease fire and called the situation a humanitarian disaster. She said that she would look into what support she had received from AIPAC.
The last question of the one-hour session focused on how the government shut-down could be ended. Trahan said that Democrats were ready to negotiate but that Speaker Johnson was continuing to keep the House out of session, apparently fearing a vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Trahan closed the meeting at 10:30 so that she could attend the 11 a.m. No Kings protest in Fitchburg.
Bob Van Meter is a long-time resident of Acton who has spent his career in affordable housing and community development.
