A crowd started gathering before dawn Saturday for a town hall with Republican Congressman Dave Trott. Hundreds came out to the 8 am meeting, after constituents spent months pressuring Trott to speak with them.
Despite boos, Trott told the crowd he'll vote in favor of the Republican healthcare reform bill next week, also known ast the American Healthcare Act.
“Barring new information, I’ll be supporting the American Healthcare Act next Thursday,” Trott says. “The goal is through lower premiums, lower healthcare costs, tax subsidies [and] health savings accounts, to make the insurance more affordable.”
But Trott also says that healthcare overhaul is "doomed" in the long run.
“If you don’t like the American Healthcare Act, also known by some as Trumpcare, here’s the problem, it’s not going to survive the test of time,” Trott said. “Because a partisan solution just like the Affordable Care Act, is doomed to fail.”
Trott chose to only answer pre-written questions from a mostly hostile crowd for about an hour. People frequently jeered and interrupted Trott, and voiced their frustration at not being given an opportunity to respond to the congressman’s answers.
Thad Sinckicwiz lives in Trott’s district. He says he thinks people are frustrated by Trott, who Sinckicwiz says should host public meetings in his district more often.
“If he states, over a period of time, how many meetings he’ll have, it may lessen the anxiety people have over ‘Oh, this may be the only one in months’, or whatever,” Sinckicwiz says.
Nearly 500 people packed inside a hall in the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi, but more were turned away by security and even barred from the the lobby outside the hall. Trott addressed those who got turned away soon after stepping to the podium, promising another town hall in his district.
Trott also vowed to vote against President Trump’s budget plan, if it doesn't ultimately include funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a promise echoed by many members of the Michigan Congressional delegation.
Asked if he agreed with the scientific community’s consensus regarding climate change, Trott blamed the Obama administration for expanding the role of the Environmental Protection Agency. But he also says he's doesn't agree with all of the cuts President Trump is proposing to make to the EPA.
“I think we need to keep studying climate change,” Trott said.
