Rowdy Town Hall Crowds Hit Sen. Gardner Over Health Care Vote
Those words greeted Sen. Cory Gardner Tuesday morning at the first in-person town hall he’s held in recent memory. Activist groups upset over Gardner’s support for the Republican health care bill have targeted him for his lack of public access for months.
“I love you too!” Gardner replied at the rowdy event in Colorado Springs, his first of three such gatherings of the day.
The combative tone continued for the next 90 minutes, with many audience questions focusing on health care.
"Why did you vote to hurt those people?" one woman asked Gardner, referring to his recent vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. She said her mother, who was suffering from pancreatic cancer, was able to live longer because of the Affordable Care Act.
"I'm voting for HER," someone in the audience shouted.
"I'm glad it worked. And I'm sorry for your loss," Gardner replied. He then recounted his own family's health issues, including his mother's fight with breast cancer.
But, he said, pivoting to the issue about rising costs, "The goal is not to help other people and not your mom. The goal is to make sure that we're making something work for more people — for everyone. Because what we have right now is not working for some of us."
Health care was top of mind in Greeley and Lakewood as well.
Gardner asked the Greeley crowd how many supported single-payer health care, and an overwhelming majority in the high-school auditorium raised their hands.
"I do not support single-payer, I do not support socialized medicine," Gardner said in response, arguing that a better solution is an improved economy with more people getting health care through an employer plan.
The skeptical crowd repeatedly booed him.
"This was so partisan, what you came up with," said town-hall commenter Scott McLean of Greeley, 63.
"I hope that we'll have everybody at the table going forward," Gardner replied, adding that the Senate would resume health-care discussions in the fall.
The crowd scoffed, some shouting additional profanities as Gardner stood without responding to the jeers.
The senator tried to show the Greeley crowd graphs outlining increased government spending on health care. The crowd responded with boos and angry shouts.
"What happens when this spending continues going up and we have no way to pay for it?" Gardner asked, his voice barely audible over a jeering crowd.
"Even if we disagree, we cannot continue shouting each other down in this country," he said.
The other big topic in Greeley was the violence in Charlottesville last weekend. Gardner did condemn white supremacists over Twitter, but many people came up to the mic asking what was he going to do about it -- was he going to use his power as a Senator to take white supremacist terrorism more seriously?
Some education-related questions also came up. One former teacher asked Gardner why he voted for now Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to be confirmed, citing her lack of policy experience. Another person asked whether or not Gardner supports the DREAM Act which would afford a path to citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants.
The senator’s last in-person appearance was at a planned news event in Durango earlier this month alongside Sen. Michael Bennet, Gov. John Hickenlooper and Rep. Scott Tipton. It was supposed to serve as an update on the Gold King Mine cleanup. Instead, residents angry about health care uncertainty packed the room and called on Gardner to oppose his party's health care plans.
Senate Republicans have not yet won enough votes to make any changes to the nation's health care system. But Democrats have implored their allies to keep speaking out against changes to Obamacare, so protesters are expected at Gardner's additional town halls.
Gardner Stands By Repeal And Replace
Gardner was on national television over the weekend blasting President Donald Trump for mincing words about racial violence in Virginia. Gardner said that the president "must call evil by its name."
That earned Gardner some praise from the crowd in Colorado Springs.
"I was so proud of you. I saw you, and I saw a different Cory Gardner," Sharon Akins said, her voice wavering. "And I loved it."
