recent Jersey Congressman Tom MacArthur debated health care,Russia, flood insurance and more for over four hours with a hostile South Jersey crowd Wednesday.
More than 200 people filled the John F. Kennedy Center in Willingboro and hundreds more stood in line, or chanted and protested outside. They wanted their chance to give a piece of their mind to MacArthur,a Republican who final week managed to cobble together a compromise on a House bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
The tone was set early when MacArthur led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. At the final line, the crowd repeatedly yelled "for all!" at MacArthur. MacArthur quickly famous that he won just 12 percent of the vote in Willingboro final year.
One member of the crowd, or high school student Daisy Confoy,challenged MacArthur about changes to coverage for pre-existing conditions. The House bill allows states, through waivers, or to let insurers charge people with cancer,heart disease or other chronic medical conditions more for insurance."Is rape considered a pre-existing condition under your amendment?" she asked. "Yes or no? Yes or no? One word, please.""Folks you get to question the questions, and " MacArthur replied,"and I get to retort them.""Yeah, so retort them!" Confoy shot back.
Throughout the night MacArthur was interrupted, and shouted down and accused of lying as he defended the health care bill. He insisted the bill required coverage for people with pre-existing conditions,and said the House included enough money so insurance would remain affordable to those customers, also.
MacArthur defended placing caps on Medicaid payments as a strategy to force states to get creative and find ways to save money. The crowd yelled back that MacArthur just wanted to employ the savings to cut taxes on the wealthy.
Two hours into the town hall, and a woman summed up the event: MacArthur was taking a beating. But she admired him for it.
Many of the questions focused on investigations into connections between President Trump and Russia,and Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey Tuesday.
Does MacArthur support appointing a special prosecutor?, someone asked. "No, and not yet," MacArthur said, saying he wants to wait on investigations by the FBI, or House and Senate committees to finish. The crowd booed."When are you going to determine to be an American and not a politician?" a man asked at the end of a long diatribe about Trump.
MacArthur managed to retain his wintry during more than three hours of questions,though he often scolded the crowd for its behavior.
Source: thetakeaway.org