What did John McGuire do this week? 4/12/25

Suitable for framing or wrapping fish, but probably not legislating.

Based on his social posts this week, our congressman:

Was silent on

• import taxes / tariffs

Even though

• they raised prices for constituents throughout the 5th district and nearly cratered the global economy

Update: After I posted this piece and emailed it out, I got a news alert with a couple articles in which McGuire comments on the tariffs. From the one at CBS19 News:

“President Trump's decisions are unorthodox, but they're bringing manufacturing and supply chains back to the U.S.,” McGuire said. “It's been unfair trade with a huge trade deficit, and many, many countries have taken advantage of us for far too long. If you travel around the 5th Congressional District — there's 24 counties, cities and towns, almost 800,000 people — and I've seen empty warehouses and empty factories.”

McGuire’s defense is certainly one we’ve heard from people in Trump’s circle. But others—including Trump’s own chief economic adviser—have also made the opposite case: not that the tariffs will fill empty warehouses and factories, but that they’ll usher in an era of free trade, which would mean jobs go where they make the most economic sense, even if Donald Trump and John McGuire would like them to stay here.

So I stand corrected. McGuire did comment on the topic of the day. He also did something else: remind us that commenting is not the same as making a meaningful contribution.

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Met with

• Lawrence Distributing Company of Danville

• The head of the nuclear operations group for BWXT

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Voted to

• cut Medicaid for 160,000 of his constituents

• cut the $18 million in federal aid that his lowest-income constituents get every month to help with groceries, rent, and child care

• cut SNAP benefits for 27,000 veterans in Virginia

• preserve the 2017 tax deal that gave the richest 1 percent, who make more than $820,000 a year, twice as much of a tax cut as the middle class (2.9 percent versus 1.3 percent)

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Also voted to

• increase measures that prevent non-citizens from registering to vote

At the risk of

• making it harder for U.S. citizens, and especially married women, to register

Even though

• Virginia found only 6,303 non-citizens on the rolls, which was 0.1 percent of all registered voters in the commonwealth

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Highlighted the importance of

• cutting unnecessary spending

• reducing the deficit

• promoting national defense

• his Congressional Art Competition

Did not highlight the importance of

• lowering grocery prices

• lowering drug prices

• making sure people can get health care

• making sure low-income schools don’t lose federal funding

• making sure laid-off federal employees can find work

• the 22nd Amendment

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Shared

• whatever this is

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Celebrated

• Gold Star spouses

• the Republican nominee for governor

• the retired sheriff of Bedford County

• being in D.C. “to help President Trump with the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ ”!

• cherry trees

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Had his staff hold

• Mobile office hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on a workday

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Praised President Trump for

• persuading Europe to spend more on defense

• his commemorative coin

• his “unwavering love and dedication to all Americans, regardless of party, race, religion, or creed”

Did not, presumably, have in mind

• this example of unwavering love for all Americans

• or this kind of unwavering love

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