Chemung County residents packed the county legislative chambers in Elmira during Monday’s full legislature meeting to voice concern about the lack of access to their Republican congressman, asking, “Where is Nick Langworthy?”
Attendees included members from across the political spectrum, the LGBTQ community, former county officials, the county Democratic committee, retirees, veterans, parents and children. Their concerns stem from possible cuts to federal safety net programs like Medicaid and Medicare, Social Security and food benefits, if the federal budget bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives in February is signed into law.
The bill tasks the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIPS) with finding $880 billion in cuts to offset $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. Langworthy is a member of the committee.
Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) all provide coverage for low-income, senior, disabled and retired Americans.
Participants at Tuesday’s legislature meeting oppose Southern Tier Congressman Nick Lanworthy’s support of the bill and want to address him in person. However, they say they have been unable to reach him.
Constituents implored local legislators to reach out to Langworthy on their behalf to hold in-person town halls. Langworthy has not held an in-person town hall, however, he does offer telephone town halls. Residents of the Southern Tier said while in-person meetings are ideal, offering linked recordings to his virtual meetings would provide accessibility to his many constituents who cannot attend because they are second-shift workers at Corning Inc. or night shift nurses, caretakers or parents.
One parent, Katelyn Abbott-Marsh, a mother of three, said Medicaid helps her family cover major health care expenses for the entire family. All three of her children have a genetic bleeding disorder that requires special health care attention. Her three-year-old daughter has several health issues that require access to additional specialists, such as physical and occupational therapy, a cardiologist and a neurologist.
Abbott-Marsh said her family’s income is above the poverty level for the county, but still falls within what’s called the ALICE threshold (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed). An ALICE threshold means the income is not enough to meet basic needs, such as food, housing and health care.
“This is my child, and she doesn't have a voice for herself yet,” said Abbott-Marsh. “It is important for me to be her voice, and also it's important for me to be the voice for all the nonverbal children who can't. There are so many children and so many parents who do not know what they have in their arsenal to use to advocate for themselves.”
Abbott-Marsh said she traveled to Washington D.C. to speak with Langworthy, but was unable to meet with him and spoke with one of his legislative aides who told her that the Republican leaders were not looking to make cuts to Medicaid and Medicare.
Meaghan Osterhaut spoke to the legislature as a business owner, health care worker and a mother. She is an independent voter and voted for Langworthy in November, but said she now regrets that choice.
“I spoke with him prior [to the election],” said Osterhaut. “Did I like everything he had to say? Definitely not. I don’t like anything any politician has to say in whole. But his values and what he supported led me to believe that he would be a stop gap. He is definitely not a stop gap.”
Osterhaut, a registered nurse in Chemung County, is worried about the possibility of job losses for caretakers and health care workers should Medicaid be cut—along with the services that come with those jobs.
In 2024, there were nearly 7,000 jobs in health care and social services in Chemung County, according to Southern Tier Economic Growth.
In January, Medicaid enrollment in Chemung County was 36 percent of the population, according to the most recent population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Medicare enrollment in the county in 2024, which is the most recent data available, was 25 percent of the population.
There were more than 14,000 recipients of SNAP in 2022, which is the most recent data available. And 2,756 county residents receive some form of Social Security income, according to 2023 data, which is the most recent data available.
Speakers during Monday’s meeting called on the legislature to pass resolutions objecting to any proposed cuts to federal programs that will affect their constituents, including the closure of the only Social Security office in the county.
Mark Margeson, chair of the Chemung County Legislature, said they have no control over Medicare and Medicaid cuts, but there could be a resolution brought up for discussion.
“It's just a piece of paper,” said Margeson. “That's part of the problem, we have no authority over Langworthy. We can't get them to do anything. There's just nothing we can do. And unfortunately, this is a venue that people can vent. But again, there's not a lot in this body that we can do.“
Some legislators said the public pleas were moving and passionate, while others were not convinced that substantial cuts to the safety-net programs were not warranted. They all agreed that it is too soon to tell whether there will be any impact on these programs and to the local community.
Four legislators were absent for Monday’s meeting. Several legislators told WSKG that because they were absent, they will need to be included in any discussions and decisions about how to move forward.
Representative Langworthy held a telephone town hall Tuesday and talked about these programs.
“We will go find fraud, waste and abuse in these systems,” said Langworthy. “Social Security is not touched by anything with the budget reconciliation program, not one iota of Social Security is changed by the budget reconciliation process. With Medicaid, President Trump, the speaker of the House, everyone is on record publicly saying that we are not going to change benefits for Medicaid, for anyone that currently gets the system. But what we are looking at here is, how do we find savings over the long haul.”
Langworthy said he is dedicated to protecting the safety net programs for those that need them the most.
He did include that there are talks in Washington about work requirements for able-bodied Americans under 55 with no dependent children, but did not specify which programs it would pertain to.
WSKG reached out to Langworthy’s office and did not hear back.