With the Pennsylvania General Election 14 days away, Congressional candidates Rachel Wallace, a Democrat, faced off against incumbent Dan Meuser, a Republican, in an often testy debate Tuesday at the Penn State Schuylkill campus, Schuylkill Haven.

Wallace seeks to oust Meuser from the 9th Congressional District seat he’s held since 2019.

Sponsored by the Schuylkill County Chamber of Commerce, the debate opened with remarks from Penn State Schuylkill Chancellor Dr. Robert E. Bohrer II and Chamber Government Affairs Committee Chair Edward J. Winkelbauer. Chamber CEO Robert S. Carl Jr. served as moderator.

The candidates’ answers to the eight questions posed to them were peppered with personal jabs and accusations.

Wallace accused Meuser of voting for policies that have escalated the healthcare crisis, skyrocketing diesel, gas, heating fuel and grocery costs, living outside the district, and doing nothing to help the average citizen while voting for tax cuts for data centers.

Meuser accused Wallace of lying, suggested she is a socialist, and blamed former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for whom Wallace worked, for today’s inflation, high prices, unchecked immigration, reworking the 9th Congressional District borders to leave his house just outside of it, and the record breaking national debt.

On the question of healthcare transparency and cost management, Meuser said Democrats “completed eroded” employer provided healthcare “because they want to control it all. They want a single-payer system, and they do everything possible to take that away from individuals as well as from employers.”

He blamed the Affordable Care Act, an Obama administration initiative, for today’s high healthcare premiums. He touted a Trump administration plan that would have Medicaid, Medicare and other government programs negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies.

Wallace said Meuser voted in favor of cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid, thus endangering rural hospitals.

She said she would work to stop prior authorization, work to reverse the Medicaid cuts, and hold insurance companies accountable.

On agriculture and rural economic development, Wallace blamed high diesel prices resulting from the war with Iran and tariffs for farmers’ struggles. She said she would work to end the war and the tariffs, and stop “cheap imports” of foreign beef.

Meuser said the tariffs are imposed on foreign countries, and that farmers are benefiting from them “because their food is not being competed against.”

He said he’s working to reduce regulations and improve crop insurance, cutting back on Canadian mushroom imports undercutting Pennsylvania’s.

“They were dumping mushrooms like there was no tomorrow into Pennsylvania,” he said.

He said “all democrats voted against” the $12 billion the Trump administration allocated to farmers last year.

Other questions concerned small business growth, to which Meuser answered that the Trump administrations “Big Beautiful Bill” provided the No Tax on Tips plan, cutting $6,000 from the Social Security tax, and Workers’ Family Tax Credit.

Wallace again said she would vote to end tariffs and ease health care costs.

On tax policy and economic growth, Wallace pointed to significant cuts to SNAP benefits and Medicaid coupled with tax cuts for data centers as a reason why people are struggling.

She said Meuser’s stock portfolio is “all in AI and big tech.”

Meuser shot back that “If I was interested in money, I’d have stayed in the private sector.”

Energy, immigration

On energy production and affordability, Meuser touted domestic oil drilling on federal land and coal production.

Wallace said the 9th Congressional District has coal, oil, gas, solar, nuclear power and wind, and that she would work to keep that production going strong. She also touted being endorsed by the United Mine Workers.

On immigration, Meuser said that “not one illegal has crossed the border in 17 months,” and that as a result, fentanyl deaths have plummeted.

Wallace said “we all agree” that the borders need to be secure, that immigrants need to be vetted, and that people should enter the country “the right way.”

On substance abuse, Wallace said she’d vote to increase mental health, local law enforcement and drug abuse prevention funding.

Meuser touted the Trump administration’s “war on cartels,” closing the border to prevent fentanyl from being brought in, strengthening penalties for fentanyl sales, and funding treatment, recovery support and monitoring of those who have had overdoses.

On economic stability in light of the changing global economy, Wallace said she’d work to reduce the $40 trillion national debt, curb inflation, and raise the cap on the Social Security tax.

Meuser said the former Biden administration overspent during the COVID pandemic while the economy was grinding to halt, causing the current inflation spike. He touted business growth and manufacturing as key to regaining economic stability.

The 9th Congressional District includes Schuylkill, Northumberland, Bradford, Columbia, Lebanon, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties, and parts of Luzerne and Lycoming counties.