Anatomy of a GOP Town Hall

U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz held a Town Hall in Southern Oregon. 

A questioner called him out for voting NO on the PACT bill.

Bentz said he voted no because he knew it would pass without his vote. No harm done.

The Town Hall event was orderly. Bentz avoided divisive, partisan talk. His Town Hall a year ago began with him saying he was a big supporter of Trump. Not this time. I never heard Trump's name mentioned in the 75 minutes of the event.

In opening remarks Bentz brought up Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, but Bentz neither criticized it for being provocative nor praised it for standing up to China. He spoke about his role on the House Judiciary Committee and said "Jim Jordan and I have become good friends." He warned the audience that people entering the U.S. are coached to say they have a "credible fear" of violence at home. He warned that a twelve-year-old girl coming here under those circumstances is entitled to go to school here. That costs us money, he said.

There was time for ten questions from the audience. One urged him to control immigration, another said the Federal Reserve left interest rates too low for too long, another complained about the management of a local irrigation district, another complained about illegal marijuana grows, and another asked what he could do about homelessness.

Three of the questions addressed veterans, and that issue brought the only sharp criticism of Bentz.  A woman said Bentz "let vets down." You voted against the PACT bill, she said. Congress describes the Veterans Burn Pits Exposure Recognition Act of 2021 this way:

This bill requires the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to concede, for the purposes of health care benefits and wartime disability compensation, that a veteran was exposed to certain toxic substances, chemicals, and hazards from burn pits if such veteran served on active duty in a covered location during a specified time frame. . ..

The VA requires veterans with cancer and lung diseases to prove that their diseases were service connected. This law changes that burden of proof.

Bentz made the first of several explanations of his NO vote. He said he recognized that his vote would be controversial. He said he supported the bill, and knew that it was sure to pass without his vote. He wasn't really letting veterans down, he said. His vote was a way for Republicans to try to force Democrats to cut $400 million overall from the budget. If veterans have the right to claim their diseases were service connected the money would be non-discretionary. That opens up other items for possible spending. This was Republican strategy, he said. We joined together to make a budgeting point.

Later, when addressing the issue of interest rates, he returned to the subject of the pressure on Congress to spend. Every cause is a good cause. He said he could not support veterans if excess spending hurt the country. "We got to slow down the spending." Again, he said, Democrats were going to pass the PACT bill without our help. Our votes against it didn't hurt veterans.

Perhaps most curious is what did not happen at the event.

--No one asked about January 6 hearings, or the GOP's multi-pronged effort to overturn the 2020 election. Bentz had been one of the Republican Representatives who voted to discard electoral votes. 

--No one mentioned abortion, the Supreme Court, or reproductive rights. Bentz is on record as opposing abortion from the moment of conception.

--No one mentioned gasoline prices.

--No one mentioned taxes or tax rates. 

--No one mentioned Ukraine.

--No one mentioned Biden.

--No one mentioned unemployment rate.

--No one mentioned gender, transgender, race, income distribution, policing, or equity. 

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