Republican representatives across the country have faced boisterous crowds at town halls. Some have elected to host a different form of outreach – a telephone town hall. Representative Lee Zeldin of Long Island’s 1st Congressional District held one Thursday night.
Constituents signed up to receive a phone call, listen in and ask questions. Approximately 100,000 homes were called, and 9,116 constituents participated in the call.
Callers asked about the Trump administration’s reversal of transgender protections, Zeldin’s votes on environmental issues, and Republican plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.
“Our next caller is Nancy. Hello, Nancy, do you have a question?”
Nancy wanted to know more about how Republicans plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
“What is the plan you have in place to replace it and how will you pay for it? Because I know you said you don’t want to increase taxes and I’m not sure that I’m really clear on how you would do it.”
Zeldin responded that there is a budget reconciliation plan that will be introduced soon and will deal with the repeal.
“You can’t repeal all of Obamacare even if you wanted to in the budget reconciliation bill but you can repeal and replace a lot of it.”
Zeldin said to take a look at the repeal proposal by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. He says Price’s plan is being vetted behind the scenes.
Zeldin will hold office hours with small groups of constituents next Friday.
Eileen Duffy of the group Let’s Visit Lee Zeldin, which has advocated for an open town hall, says the group will continue to ask for Zeldin to stand in front of the people.
