Some Centre County residents are protesting the Trump administration’s recent actions, including pauses on federal funding and Elon Musk’s involvement in the government.
Nearly a hundred people gathered Wednesday outside U.S. Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson’s office in Bellefonte. Several people in the crowd said they want Thompson to stand up against Elon Musk’s involvement in the government to slash federal spending.
Andrea Ferich, who runs a farming consulting business, said she’s been personally impacted by some of the federal funding freezes.
“I'd like to know if we're getting reimbursed or not," Ferich said. "And there's just so much uncertainty about existing funding that was already appropriated.”
Alison Jaenicke said she's disappointed Thompson hasn't done more to oppose Musk and Trump. Jaenicke is a board member of Ridgelines Language Arts, a Centre County nonprofit that provides language arts education to underserved communities like domestic violence shelters, low-income nursing homes, and state women's prisons.
"We feel that arts is for everyone, and we just found out recently that the National Endowment for the Arts grant that Ridgelines had depended on to put these programs into these important places has been cut," Jaenicke said.
The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, says it is cutting down on fraud and wasteful spending. It's a goal Jaenicke says she doesn't necessarily disagree with.
"I'm all for efficiency," Jaenicke said. "I'm all for, you know, shrinking our bloated bureaucracy, but it's being done in a way that's so harmful to so many people, not only in the arts, but in environmental and scientific realms."
In State College, a rally outside of U.S. Senator Dave McCormick’s office didn’t go as planned. A group of Penn State faculty and graduate student workers were told they were trespassing and to disperse.
McCormick’s office is in Innovation Park, which is part of Penn State’s University Park campus.
Christine Bowlus is a Penn State graduate student worker.
“It's frustrating that, you know, he's our senator. He has an office here in State College, and we want to be able to speak to our representatives to let them know what we feel," Bowlus said. "So it's frustrating to be told that we're not welcome here and that we need to leave.”
Bowlus said some of her coworkers are worried about their future in health care since much of their work depends on NIH funding.
"People who have planned their entire careers to go into this field to do work that is for the good of the American people and our health no longer know what to do with their careers," Bowlus said.
The group eventually decided to rally at the Allen Street gates. They were part of a “Nationwide Day of Action” to support higher education and research in the face of recent funding freezes or cuts.
