WILLINGBORO, N.J. (AP) - The Latest on a town hall held by a Republican who helped pass a House health care overhaul bill (all times local):
7:25 p.m.
A New Jersey Republican lawmaker instrumental in helping the GOP-led House pass a health care overhaul bill has told an angry constituent at a town hall he “didn’t come here to defend the president.”
Rep. Tom MacArthur was responding Wednesday to an angry constituent who asked him how long he was going to “defend this American nightmare.”
MacArthur is facing an angry crowd at the meeting in a heavily Democratic part of his district in Willingboro.
He joined President Donald Trump and other Republican congressmen in the Rose Garden at the White House last week to celebrate after the health overhaul bill passed. He said then he was proud to “stand with a president,” who was handling health care differently than Democratic President Barack Obama.
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6:50 p.m.
New Jersey Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur is being heckled at a town hall meeting over the health care overhaul he helped pass in the GOP-led House.
An audience member Wednesday called out “shame” when MacArthur began discussing his 11-year-old daughter Gracie, who was born with special needs and died in 1996.
MacArthur, a former health insurance executive who has cited his daughter’s death as one of his reasons for being involved in the debate, responded “shame on you.”
He says he came to the Democratic part of his district because he wants to represent both sides and that he’s aware of the “anxiety” in the country at the moment over health care.
MacArthur played a leading role in helping the measure gain support from conservative colleagues. He authored an amendment that would allow states to get federal waivers to the requirement that insurers charge healthy and sick customers the same premiums.
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6:40 p.m.
Dozens of protesters have gathered outside a site where a New Jersey Republican lawmaker instrumental in helping the GOP-led House pass a health care overhaul bill is holding a town hall.
A crowd chanted, “Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Tom MacArthur’s got to go,” outside the Willingboro meeting site in the southern New Jersey Republican’s district Wednesday.
The representative was one of only two Republicans among five from the state to back the House legislation, which would dismantle Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature law. The Republican-led Senate is expected to author its own version.
MacArthur played a leading role in helping the measure gain support from conservative colleagues. He authored an amendment that would allow states to get federal waivers to the requirement that insurers charge healthy and sick customers the same premiums.
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2:10 p.m.
A New Jersey Republican who authored an amendment that helped the GOP-led U.S. House pass an Affordable Care Act replacement bill is set to meet with voters in his first town hall since the bill passed.
Rep. Tom MacArthur is holding Wednesday’s town hall in heavily Democratic Willingboro.
The town hall comes as Democrats target MacArthur ahead of 2018 elections. It’s in a town that went heavily for Democrat Hillary Clinton over Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
House Republicans this month approved legislation that would dismantle Democratic former President Barack Obama’s signature law. The Republican-led Senate is expected to author its own version.
MacArthur authored an amendment in the House measure allowing states to get federal waivers to the requirement that insurers charge healthy and sick customers the same premiums.
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