Congressman David Cicilline held a ‘community conversation’ at Cumberland High School on April 1 to give his constituents a chance to share their comments, questions, and concerns about their government. Cicilline, who represents Rhode Island’s First Congressional District, covered a wide variety of topics, ranging from Russia to healthcare to education and many more in between.

    About Russia, Cicilline said that he believed the Russian involvement in the recent election to be an “effort led personally by Vladimir Putin” in “an effort to undermine western democracy,” and, more specifically, “a very personal” attempt to “undermine Secretary [Hillary] Clinton.” Cicilline warned the over seventy-five people in attendance that this was a “very serious issue that should be a concern to everyone,” and that Russia will be “watching our reaction,” and will be back for more if America doesn’t have a strong response.

    About healthcare, Cicilline made it clear to the attendees that he is a staunch supporter of the Affordable Care Act, just as he had made clear on the House floor a few days earlier. When asked why single-payer is the solution, he told the people in the CHS cafeteria that “Medicare is a system that works very well.” It provides a basic plan to everyone, and takes insurance companies out of the equation, while still giving patients their choice of doctors. Rhode Island, he also mentioned, is experimenting “really successfully” with an integrated healthcare model. It would cost around $52 billion annually to follow a European model of a single-payer system, he added. One woman in the Cumberland audience, a breast cancer survivor, asked about cancer research funding. Cicilline said he thinks that “we have a responsibility to invest more in research, science, and medical research,” and that it was “very frustrating” to see a budget proposal (referring to President Trump’s recent proposed budget) that limited medical research, adding that he hoped that efforts from former Vice President Joe Biden (who lost his son, Beau Biden, to brain cancer in May 2015) will increase the funding for cancer research.

    Cicilline began an answer to a question about education by saying that “it’s an incredibly important issue for everyone,” and that, for him, “it’s the greatest issue of our time.” In the next decade, he continued, two-thirds of the jobs available will require a college degree–but paying for higher education is becoming an increasingly difficult task. It used to be that “steady, solid, middle-class working” could pay for a degree, but that is “not the case anymore.” He told those in attendance about a proposal similar to a Swedish system that would allow people to pay off student loans interest-free as a pre-tax payroll deduction. It’s a “really simple way to do it,” he said. When asked about the security of funding for free and reduced lunch programs and special educations, he said that he thinks “we’re gonna have to fight hard to protect” free and reduced lunch funding, but that he hopes that special education will be easier to protect. And about the new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, he made his opinion quite clear. “[She] is by far the most unqualified person in the cabinet and that’s saying something,” he said of DeVos, adding that he is “very concerned” and that “we have to fight hard to protect that funding.”

    Other issues covered included Supreme Court Justice (who was at the time just a nominee) Neil Gorsuch, whose judicial philosophy he called “alarming,” saying that Gorsuch, if appointed to the court, would be “one more vote against the little guy.” He also told the audience that he felt that warrantless cell searches at the border were “unconstitutional” and often lacked probable cause, and that the proposal to separate detained mothers from their children to deter illegal immigration was “hideous public policy.” There is also currently no path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, something that he seeks to change by proposing a bipartisan bill that both secures the borders and provides a path to citizenship. When asked about medical marijuana, Cicilline assured a concerned mother that it was legal in Rhode Island, but that it was a state issue rather than a federal issue to alter regulations related to that. Similarly, when the issue of outrageously high prescription drug prices was raised, he said that most countries had set price rates for prescription drugs the way that utility rates are set here in the United States. President Trump, he added, in his 2016 campaign, had said that he wanted to do “something” about ‘big pharma’ while he was in office. Cicilline stated that he thinks “it’s criminal, what happens in big pharma.” Also touched upon were economic development in Rhode Island, the controversy over whether or not internet service providers could sell customer data, the rights and safety of LGBT students in schools, gerrymandering, how to get involved in campaigns at grassroots levels, and  plans to work with President Trump during his term.

    Cicilline began to wind down his Cumberland conversation by saying that America is “a country and a democracy worth fighting for.” He also added that he appreciates the large number of emails, letters, and phone calls he gets from constituents that tell him how he’s doing–whether or not they say he’s doing a good, bad, or mediocre job, he greatly values hearing from his constituents and listening to what they have to say. He ended with a final encouragement to his audience to not lose faith in their government and to continue fighting for it, and to remember that America is a democracy of, by, and for the people–he wants his constituents to “never underestimate the power of all of you.”