Ohioans bus to DC, ask senator for town-hall meeting
WASHINGTON — They rode six hours in a bus, from Columbus to D.C., staying overnight to make an early coffee in a Capitol Hill office building with Sen. Rob Portman just so they could urge him to hold a town-hall meeting in Ohio.
They peppered him with questions, asking if he preferred the single-payer system for health care (he doesn’t) and which essential benefits he’d like to protect as the Senate drafts its Obamacare replacement.
They left feeling like he’d heard them they had received at least partial answers to their questions.
And then, members of the Indivisible District Three group — a group of central Ohioans who started out alarmed about the Trump agenda but who are now also committed to urging the GOP to stop that agenda — marched upstairs to plant themselves in Portman’s office, again to ask for a town hall in Ohio. They stayed for hours to discuss their concerns about the Republican health-care bill, posting the entire process on Facebook Live.
Their timing could not have been more fortuitous; the group came as the Senate is secretly drafting its health care bill, one whose details even Portman and many other senators say they know little about.
That fact chafes. The group not only wants Portman to know the details, they want him to fight the bill. They want him, like them, to resist.
But Republicans have been constant critics of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, though Portman said he would have voted against the Obamacare replacement that passed the House last month. He’s been concerned about the House bill because it eliminates the Medicaid expansion — the same Medicaid expansion that Portman argues has helped Ohio address its opioid crisis. Portman now says he could support a seven–year phaseout of the expanded benefits.
Portman said he had met with representatives of Wednesday’s group before. One, Tom Cartwright, has flown in to attend multiple constituent coffees, and Meryl Neiman, a Bexley organizer who owns an online play-date scheduling app, is one of a group that has made nearly weekly appearances at Portman’s Columbus office. Portman said he has met with representatives of the group some 75 times.
But those on the bus, at least, said they’ve had to largely settle for leaving messages via email and through his staff.
Their frustration is palpable and so is his: While they want to know they’re being heard and, ideally, to change his mind on some issues, he said he has an entire state to represent, and he wants to make sure he’s paying attention to as many different constituencies as he can.
“We welcome all Ohioans to our constituent coffees, including left-wing Indivisible activists who work for the Ohio Democratic Party, ProgressOhio, the Sierra Club, the liberal super PAC For Our Future Fund, and the Environmental Defense Council,” said Portman spokeswoman Emily Benavides. “It was interesting that they came in hostile but calmed down after other Ohio constituents asked them to be civil and thanked Rob for having an open forum.”
While some dismiss his group as Democratic activists just looking to cause heartburn for Republicans, Neiman said members are just worried what the Trump presidency might mean to them.
“We’re not out to remove him from office,” Neiman said of Portman. “We’re not out as members of the Democratic Party to make his life miserable.”
Portman admitted he doesn’t think the House health care bill does enough to protect those with pre–existing conditions. He said he wants the Senate bill to protect coverage for those Americans.
Group members nodded. A handful even offered scattered applause.
Afterward, Portman posed for pictures with those who’d come to the coffee.
“We are not who he thinks we are,” said Neiman. “We just want to be part of the process.”