WASHINGTON (AP) – Angry constituents confronted Republican lawmakers at separate town halls in California and Florida, fearful of the GOP promise to repeal former President Barack Obama’s health care law without a comprehensive alternative.
In California, Rep. Tom McClintock faced tough questions on Saturday about health care and President Donald Trump’s agenda and had to be escorted by police after his hour-long event. Protesters followed him, shouting “Shame on you!”
In an equally conservative district in Florida, Rep. Gus Bilirakis answered questions from frustrated town hall attendees who worried about the loss of insurance and higher premiums if the law is repealed.
The events captured on Facebook, the Saint Peters blog and other news organizations echoed the angry town halls that Democrats faced in 2009 as Obama pressed for passage of his sweeping law. With the Trump administration support for scrapping the law, the Republican campaign to overturn it is no longer a political exercise to be stopped by Democrats and Obama but rather a reality.
Republicans have repeatedly said the law is a costly disaster with rising costs. Democrats say the GOP effort will threaten health care’s availability and raise rates, angering the 20 million people who gained insurance under the law and tens of millions of others who benefit from the statute’s coverage requirements.