Hancock City Council, 2025-02-19

I'm Sarah Green from Calumet Township.
Thank you for your attention and for your efforts to improve lives of Copper Country citizens. Although I live in Calumet, I benefit from numerous amenities in the city and really appreciate seeing all the recent improvements downtown.

I have spoken to many groups about climate change, environmental topics, and other issues. I’m here today to address a threat to our democratic institutions.

I have come to you for two reasons. First, because actions at the federal level have direct consequences for the Copper Country residents whom you represent; and second, because our congressman, Jack Bergman, is unwilling to hold public events in this district.

Article 1 of the US constitution is about congress: “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

According to the constitution:
Congress is given the power to pass laws and enact the budget.
The President is commander in chief and has certain international roles, but his main responsibility is to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Article II).
The Judicial branch can enforce the laws and overturn laws that are unconstitutional.

The checks and balances embedded in the constitution are under attack.

1. The president is claiming the power to overturn the wishes of congress by freezing funds that have already been approved. The funding freeze aimed to block thousands of programs across the country from Meal-on-Wheels to Cancer Research. Billions of dollars in federal funding flows to counties and townships, often through state programs, including Community block grants, infrastructure programs, student loans, school lunch programs, and health insurance. Michigan Tech received $82M of federal funding to support last year.

These are your taxes that congress is sending back to support citizens and programs for their benefit. The president does not have the right to block it.

A judge has agreed, and has since ordered that the freeze be lifted and then held the administration in contempt when money continued to be blocked.

2. A private citizen and his unvetted associates have gained access to the Social Security system, the IRS, and Treasury, exposing your social security data, tax information, and personal data on every person who has ever conducted business with the federal government.

There is no provision under any of the three branches for a private businessman to have access to the nation’s checkbook. And Elon Musk not only has billions of dollars in contracts with the government through his various companies, but also has undisclosed relationships with Russia, China, and other U.S. adversaries.

Security experts have raised the alarm about this breach of the firewall that protects the personal information of millions of citizens. Noted computer security researcher Bruce Schneier calls this the “most consequential security breach in US history.”

Again, judges are moving to block this access. However, it’s impossible to recover data once it’s been exposes..

3. Elon Musk is further threatening the more than 9000 federal workers employed in MI-01 (1st congressional district).  An unknown number of local people have already been illegally fired. Federal employees make up 2.6% of the workforce in our area. About 40% of them work for the VA; about 30% are veterans themselves. These are your friends and neighbors who are being fired. And they work for us, the American people, not for Elon Musk.

This action is continuing, despite multiple lawsuits.

These actions have profound local implications. Your constituents will suffer severely if federal funding and employment actions are allowed to proceed. I have many questions about why my federal taxes that were intended to fund local programs are being snatched by businessmen in Washington.

Even more critically, undermining the checks and balances of our system reverberate to all levels of government.

If justice is decided based on political patronage and friends in high places, laws become irrelevant.

If the highest government officials ignore the rule of law, how can you govern locally? If private-sector billionaires can decide how and where government money is spent, congress becomes irrelevant, and so do you.

My right to “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances” has no meaning if government is beholden to private interests.

Do you have a plan to support your constituents if this federal government take-over succeeds?

Can we count on you to tell officials in Washington how important federal services are to Hancock?

I urge you put political differences aside and work together to address this constitutional threat.














https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2025/02/doge-as-a-national.html