Callers press Portman on Trump’s plans
WASHINGTON — Nearly once a week when the Senate is in session, reporters from all over the state ask Sen. Rob Portman questions. But on Wednesday night, it was nearly 8,000 Ohioans’ turn.
They asked about immigration and the Muslim ban. They asked about Obamacare and the Republican plan to repeal and replace it. They asked about the Supreme Court. And they asked about Donald Trump.
And Portman, R-Ohio, weighed in for an hour and fifteen minutes, sometimes taking repeated follow-ups.
“We want to hear from you,” Portman said at the end of the call, acknowledging that “this is an interesting time for our country.”
Like many Ohio lawmakers, Portman has often opted for tele-town halls, citing the convenience — he’s in Washington most of this week. His staff is quick to note that it’s one of the ways he tries to keep in touch with constituents while he’s in Washington.
Other lawmakers have been more blunt in their preference for tele-town halls over in-person town halls: They prefer the teletown halls because they are more easily managed, with voters queuing up to ask questions rather than shouting in a more uncontrolled, chaotic environment, and the conversation is often more productive.
Still, the questions Wednesday were, at times, blunt.
John from Sylvania started by proclaiming that cuts to the EPA are “horrible,” but wanted to ask about Trump, saying the 45th president had told enough lies that he had become less credible. “It’s disgusting to me,” he said, urging Portman to talk to Trump.
Portman said he has stood up to Trump on policy issues such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Muslim ban, though he acknowledged that plenty of his constituents also support Trump.
“I’m not interested in getting into a fight,” he said. “I’m interested in making progress.”
But the next questioner, Meryl from Columbus, said the issue wasn’t one of policy.
“We are very concerned about the lies in and of itself,” she said, arguing “it’s dangerous to us with respect to our allies and dangerous that we can’t trust our president.”
“I get what you’re saying,” Portman said, saying that “trust is at a low ebb anyway, and we all need to be careful about what we say because words matter. I hear what you’re saying.”
An Ohioan named Tom asked whether Portman would vote against the current House plan to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, focusing in particular on the mental health coverage elements of the plan. He said he worried that the bill would not protect mental health coverage for Medicaid recipients. The newest bill includes an option for states to use block grants for Medicaid.
Portman said he was not worried that Ohio Gov. John Kasich would drop the coverage under the block grant option. But still, he said, he was working to improve the plan for the mentally ill, many of whom use Medicaid to help treat their substance abuse issues.
“I could not support the current health legislation,” Portman said.
Cheryl from Chillicothe, meanwhile, worried about the impact of the new health care bill on Medicaid. She runs Cheryl’s House of Hope, which provides housing to women recovering from drug addiction, and said she worried about what options the women would have if their Medicaid “goes away.”
“We’re losing our family members,” she said. What Trump said “is not going to kill me,” she said, opioids would. “Let’s get this stopped.”
This is the third tele-town hall Portman has held this year and Portman’s staff is quick to note that he’s held more than 30 events this year, including two employee town halls with Whirlpool employees in Clyde and Pennex employees in Leetonia near Youngstown. He also holds constituent coffees every week that he’s in Washington.