Who?
Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon
LISTEN: Laslo & Scanlon
Ask a Pol asks:
Do President Donald Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce over the weekend worry you?
Key Bacon:
“Yes!” Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “Well, I mean, it continues this pattern of going after the most vulnerable.”
What’s changed since March?
“A lot has changed even since the vote in March, and one of the big changes is all of the layoffs, all of the gutting of federal services and I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks with the federal employees in my district, and they’re saying, ‘no, he’s he’s already done so much damage. There has to be a line in the sand,’” Scanlon says.
“We’re here and with respect to how that plays out, I don’t think cruelty is a winning argument. I don’t think terrorizing Americans or bullying companies and law firms and universities is a winning argument.”
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Caught our ear:
“When he says he’s going after ‘Democrat programs,’ he seems to mean poor people, folks with disabilities, folks who are already struggling,” Scanlon tells us. “I don’t think that’s the brand he thinks it is.”
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Below find a rough transcript of Ask a Pol’s exclusive interview with Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA), slightly edited for clarity.
TRANSCRIPT: Mary Gay Scanlon (10-15-2025)
SCENE: Ahead of Democrats rallying on the steps of the US House of Representatives Wednesday, Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo runs into Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon just off the shuttered floor of the US House of Representatives.
Matt Laslo: “Does Trump’s cuts over the weekend worry you?”
Mary Gay Scanlon: “Yes!”
ML: “Going after — yeah?”
MGS: “Well, I mean, it continues this pattern of going after the most vulnerable.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MGS: “So cutting CDFI [Community Development Financial Institutions Fund], which, you know, prioritizes finance for underserved communities. Going after the office of special ed.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MGS: “OSERS [Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services] and OSEP [Office of Special Education Programs], I spent a decade advocating on behalf of kids in special ed with special needs. And of course, there’s the overlay there with Medicaid, because so many of the services they need are supplied through Medicaid. So, I mean, once again, when he says he’s going after Democrat programs, he seems to mean poor people, folks with disabilities, folks who are already struggling. I don’t think that’s the brand he thinks it is.”
ML: “Does that increase the pressure on you and Democrats to consider going with the clean CR [continuing resolution] or…?”
MGS: “Well, first of all, it’s not a clean CR.”
ML: “Fair.”
MGS: “And a lot has changed even since the vote in March. So and one of the big changes is all of the layoffs, all of the gutting of federal services and I’ve spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks with the federal employees in my district, and they’re saying, ‘no, he’s he’s already done so much damage. There has to be a line in the sand.’”
ML: “Yeah?”
MGS: “And I think we’re here and with respect to how that plays out, I don’t think cruelty is a winning argument. I don’t think terrorizing Americans or bullying companies and law firms and universities is a winning argument.”
ML: “So you’re not even — like we’re seeing Republicans increased pressure on Johnson saying, ‘come back.’”
MGS: “As they should.”
ML: “But you guys aren’t breaking ranks?”
MGS: “No, I mean, this is crazy. I mean, I was here for the 2018/ 2019 shutdown. I had just arrived here.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MGS: “The first Trump shutdown. There is something on brand.”
ML: “Well, you’re to blame!”
MGS: “But we had votes. People kept working.”
ML: “I know, right?”
ML: “I also find it amazing, I mean, this is this is not a final budget solution that they are pushing right now.”
ML: “Yeah?”
MGS: “And they’ve squandered half of the time period that they expected to give them time to pass those magical 12 [appropriations] bills. They aren’t doing any work on the approps bills.”
MGS: “So I think it’s a total failure of leadership, and it’s a failure of the country.”
ML: “Yeah? Well, Speaker Johnson, the first chance he gets he washes his hands. He doesn’t want to have to deal with the Freedom Caucus and members of his party.”
MGS: “Well, he never has been able to deal with the Freedom Caucus. He lets Trump deal with them. So, you know, he’s a figurehead, as the people at the White House seem to be saying openly now.”
ML: “Yeah?”
