“Do your job! Do your job! Do your job,” shouted many disgruntled voters at a town hall meeting at the Junior Seau Community Center in Oceanside on March 11.
Rep. Darrel Issa of Vista and other Republican leaders have been scrutinized over the direction of the country under the Trump administration.
Since December, North County voters like Ellen Montanari of Solana Beach, have protested in front of Issa’s federal building in Vista every Tuesday, demanding the congressman make himself accessible to them about their concerns.
After months of pressure, Issa held two separate town hall events Saturday morning that brought him face to face in an auditorium with more than 500 voters that readily jeered and booed him.
When taking the stage, Issa laid out some ground rules, “I’m not looking for applause. If there is a lot of noise [boos], I will pause for as long as I cannot affectively give you an answer.”
One woman in attendance was concerned that the repeal and replace bill would eliminate the individual mandate that requires people to have health care insurance. She worries that young adults, like her son, would opt out of obtaining insurance and put themselves at risk.
Issa said he believes it is an individual’s right on whether or not he/she wants to have health insurance, and he would not support a bill that made it a law.
Throughout the day many attendees of the event expressed concerns that the new GOP health care bill would leave millions of Americans without insurance, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated to be at more than 20 million people.
However, the congressman said that he would not support the current health care bill presented by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
As far as immigration, an attendee asked the congressman for compassion on illegal immigration. She feels many undocumented workers provide a service by occupying jobs that many American’s don’t want, and they should be given a pathway to citizenship.
Issa said that he feels that there should be a more affective guest worker program for migrants looking for agricultural jobs, but he received an ovation of boos when saying illegal immigration leads to an increase to crime and job displacement for U.S. citizens.
At the end of the first session, outside of the event surrounded by supporters, Col. Doug Applegate, who lost to Issa in last seasons election, said, “I’m tired of making Mexico the scapegoat for all of our problems.”