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Republican Lawmakers Face More Angry Constituents at Town Halls

HeadlineFeb 23, 2017

Protests by thousands of angry constituents at town hall meetings across the country Wednesday once again targeted Republican lawmakers, as voters challenged the policies of President Trump and the Republican Congress. In Louisiana, constituents chanted “Where is he?” as Senator Bill Cassidy arrived nearly a half-hour late to a public forum. They booed as Cassidy defended his plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In Arkansas, Senator Tom Cotton was jeered after proclaiming the U.S. has the world’s best healthcare system. He was questioned about President Trump’s plans to expand the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Toby: “Donald Trump makes Mexicans not important to people who are in Arkansas who like Mexicans, like me, my grandma and all my people. And he’s deleting all the parks and PBS Kids just to make a wall. He shouldn’t do that. He shouldn’t. He shouldn’t do all that stuff for just a wall.”

That was a question from one of Senator Cotton’s constituents—a 7-year-old named Toby. In New Jersey, Congressmember Leonard Lance heard angry boos from constituents after pledging to bar federal funding for abortion. Wednesday’s raucous town hall meetings come on the heels of similar protests at events by Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst of Iowa, Florida Congressmember Dennis Ross, Tennessee Congressmember Marsha Blackburn and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

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