Casey, Meehan bring guests to hear Trump’s speech to Congress
A Lafayette Hills man with Parkinson’s disease caring for a daughter with Down Syndrome and a state representative who has served with the Army in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo were among the guests invited by local officials brought to President Trump’s address to the Joint Session of Tuesday night.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., invited Joe McGrath of Montgomery County and U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-7, of Chadds Ford, invited state Rep. Nick Miccarelli, R-162 of Ridley Park, to attend the presidential address. Each year, every senator and representative are afforded one guest each to attend the address.
Meehan explained why he chose Miccarelli for the occasion.
“Nick is a committed public servant, both through his service in the General Assembly and his record of distinction in the National Guard,” Meehan said. “His on-the-ground experience serving in global hotspots like Iraq gives him a unique view of the foreign policy challenges our country faces today.”
Miccarelli said it was the first time he attended the presidential address.
“I know it’s always a tough ticket,” he said. “I had reached out to Pat’s chief of staff last year. I think I asked him in September.”
Miccarelli is also mixing it with business as he has a few meetings scheduled for today.
He said he was honored to be able to attend.
“Being in attendance will give me the opportunity to learn first-hand where the federal government is heading over the next few years,” he said. “It will enable me to work for my constituents to ensure that their needs are met and their voices heard.”
Prior to the address, Miccarelli said he wanted the president to outline specifics in how his policies would unfold.
“I’m really hoping to see the president come out and show how his policies are going to benefit the average hard-working tax-paying Pennsylvanian,” the Congress
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state representative said.
Casey said he invited McGrath to bring attention to the problem that could occur if block grants would replace Medicaid.
“One thing I hope the president would do tonight or sometime in the near future, please tell us if you’re going to keep your campaign promise to not block grant Medicaid,” the senator said. “Block granting Medicaid is a bad idea. I’m in a mode of zero compromise on block granting Medicaid. It’s a really bad idea.”
His guest served in the Marines and worked for the Philadelphia Gas Works for 29 years. He retired, then learned he had Parkinson’s. His 17-year-old daughter, Maura, is non-verbal and has Down syndrome and autism.
“What’s going to happen by my daughter, Maura, when she turns 21?” McGrath asked, adding that 14,000 kids are on waiting lists to receive care.
He explained about daughter. his
“Maura was born with the only sign of life being a slightly beating heart,” McGrath said. At 4-monthsold, she had open heart surgery. She is not potty trained.
“I have such fear about this block granting,” her father said. “People don’t imagine how bad this can be.”
He said former Gov. Tom Corbett cut services by 10 percent and McGrath remains concerned about how further cuts would impact the equipment, such as diapers, Maura receives and the home health care.
“She’s the light of my life,” McGrath said of his daughter. “She’s made me a better man and a better father.”
Casey said he’s bringing McGrath because he wants officials to consider the human impacts their decisions make, especially children, people with disabilities and those receiving care in nursing homes that receive Medicaid.
McGrath likened block grants into a “Hunger Games for the vulnerable.”
“We’re better than that as Americans,” he said. “We look after our brothers and sisters – we don’t abandon them.”