President Donald Trump is nearly 100 days into his second term, and the sweeping changes he promised during his presidential campaign have rapidly started to emerge.
Many Kansas Citians have questions, and fears, about how the administration’s policies will affect them.
In order to address these questions, KCUR’s Community Engagement Team organized a public forum for residents to speak directly with their federal elected officials, and learn more about what is happening in our nation’s capital.
KCUR reached out on several occasions to each U.S. Senator from Kansas (Republicans Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran) and Missouri (Republicans Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt), as well as the five U.S. House representatives whose districts cover the Kansas City metro area.
Kansas 3rd District Rep. Sharice Davids and Missouri 5th District Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, both Democrats, accepted the invitation. All Republican officials either declined or did not respond to KCUR’s requests.
Last month, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee advised Republican lawmakers to avoid holding in-person town halls after several were met with large crowds critical of federal layoffs.
Two of those events involved Missouri U.S. Rep. Mark Alford and Kansas U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall. Both were invited but did not respond to participate in this Q&A.
KCUR's event was held on Monday, April 21 at St. James United Methodist Church, where Cleaver was a pastor from 1972-2009. It was moderated by Up To Date host Steve Kraske.
Davids and Cleaver answered questions submitted by Kansas City residents in advance of the event, by the some 250 people in the audience and hundreds more watching online.
Topics ranged from tariffs to immigration to Social Security, but the discussion often came back to two core questions: How are Democrats dealing with Trump’s challenges to Congressional and judicial authority, and why weren’t they more prepared when he entered office?
"This is not a Democrat or Republican problem,” said Davids. “Every single person in the United States should be concerned if the president doesn't listen to the courts."
Both Davids and Cleaver emphasized the need for residents living in Republican districts to continue engaging their representatives in Congress.
“Keep calling,” Cleaver said. “Understand that we only have to move four people (in either chamber). We move them, we move legislation, and some of them are becoming a lot less rigid.”
You can watch the entire live stream of KCUR’s Community Q&A here.
KCUR plans to hold similar community forums in other congressional districts around the Kansas City metro.
This episode was produced from a community forum organized by KCUR's Community Engagement Team: Laura Ziegler, Ron Jones and Zach Perez.
- U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, Kansas 3rd Congressional District
- U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, Missouri 5th Congressional District
