Hageman Town Hall In Afton Turns Aggressively Feisty Over DOGE, Postal Service

AFTON — Harriet Hageman was cheered, applauded, heckled and questioned during a spirited Thursday night town hall meeting at the Afton Civic Center.

An overflow crowd of more than 250 people packed the meeting hall in this far western Wyoming town for a political tete-a-tete with Wyoming’s only U.S. House member.

While it never became unruly, the gathering many times turned aggressively feisty.

“You represent us, too,” was thrown out more than once from the crowd, which included a healthy contingent from Teton County.

The local Democrat Party there organized a carpool train to drive people to attend what was Hageman’s 70^th town hall around Wyoming over the last three years.

Throughout the evening, shouts of, “Show it to us!” and “Prove it!” were peppered among applause from receptive and approving Star Valley locals.

No Dodging DOGE

The most animated debate was sparked when Hageman began outlining the efforts of the Department of Governmental Efficiency, which she said has so far saved taxpayers $105 billion.

While she lamented U.S. dollars being spent on things like $500,000 to advance atheism in Nepal or $4.5 million for Kazakhstan to fight internet trolls, Hageman said there are huge sums being spent on stuff nobody in Congress ever approved — or would approve.

“Whether it’s transgender comic books in Peru or millions in Politico subscriptions, Congress has never voted to explicitly provide funding for these items,” she said.

One of the largest uproars from the crowd came in reaction to one man in the back saying that Elon Musk is an “unauthorized billionaire who is messing with all of us.”

That drew loud cheers from some and boos from others.

One woman blurted out that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been targeted for much of the type of wasteful spending Hageman cited, couldn’t have been all bad.

“Surely, they do some good things,” she said, drawing an immediate upswell of people disagreeing with her.

Hageman didn’t miss a beat, saying that “about 17% is good things.”

“What I’m saying is that all of these programs have been reviewed, and 17%” weren’t nonsense, she said.

“Take a deep breath and try to start making sense,” the woman shot back at the congresswoman, which sparked another upswell from the crowd.

Hageman said that Musk and the acting director of DOGE, Amy Gleason, are “correcting bureaucratic decisions” that have led to a massive national debt.

“We’re $36 trillion in debt,” she said. “Every single dime we spend on these programs” makes that worse.

USPS Doesn’t Deliver

Another sore subject with many Thursday was the U.S. Postal Service and its Delivering for America Plan, which Hageman said is a disaster for Wyoming and other smaller population states.

“I’ve been terribly disappointed in the postmaster,” she said.

That’s why she’s sponsored two bills to address the USPS. One would require more notice when making a decision to close a post office.

The other would require at least one distribution center in every state, Hageman said.

She mentioned how Utah requires its elections be by mail-in ballot — something she doesn’t agree with — but that much of that state’s mail is processed in Nevada.

“We know the Postal Service has been running in the red for years and years and years,” she said.

Other Issues

The congresswoman fielded several other questions and concerns from people Thursday, including from a combat veteran who said the Veterans Administration is failing vets in rural areas.

“These are real challenges in Wyoming,” Hageman said, adding she will lobby the new head of the Veterans Administration to focus on rural vets. “It’s a burden that rivals anything you can imagine.”

She said she’s hopeful because that new agency head, Doug Collins, is a combat veteran himself.

She also seemed a little exasperated when one woman asked if Social Security is on the chopping block.

“None of us — none of us — in Congress is talking about taking away Social Security,” Hageman said.

Rumors to that end originate from people unhappy with the cuts by DOGE and to USAID to distract people, she said.

On This Everyone Agrees

While much of the meeting was high-spirited, there was one issue everyone could agree on — they all hate daylight saving time.

Perhaps the loudest pop of the evening came when a man in the middle of the crowd piped up that getting rid of those twice-yearly time changes “is something we can all agree on.”

Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.