Republican lawmaker grilled during town hall
Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., faced intense questioning from attendees at a town hall Tuesday, at one point conceding to them that he did not read a provision in the House's 'Big Beautiful Bill' before voting for it, triggering loud protests from the event's audience.
The town hall was held in a high school in Seward, Nebraska, and was live streamed on YouTube by News Channel Nebraska — a media network founded and owned by Flood.
Flood's admission that he did not read the full bill came when an attendee asked him why he had voted in favor of a provision which would make it harder for judges to enforce orders holding parties before them in contempt for defying court orders.
Flood, who holds a law degree from the University of Nebraska, said he did not agree with that provision and that he was unaware of it when he voted in favor of the bill.
'I believe in the rule of law. I've taken an oath as an attorney, I've taken an oath as a state senator, I've taken an oath as a member of Congress, and I support our court system, and I do believe that the federal district courts, when issuing an injunction, should have legal effect. In fact, I relied upon that when the Biden administration was in place, the federal courts did a tremendous amount of good work,' Flood said.
'This provision was unknown to me when I voted for the bill,' he finished, to loud yells from the crowd.
As the moderator tried to move on to the next question, Flood stopped her, saying, 'I am not going to hide the truth. This provision was unknown to me when I voted for that, and when I found out that provision was in the bill, I immediately reached out to my Senate counterparts and told them of my concern.'
Flood's words did not calm attendees, who continued their shouting.
The questions only got more intense from there, with attendees grilling him on a number of topics, from Medicaid cuts, to his voting record to changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Flood won handily in Seward, winning re-election with 77.6% of the county's votes against his Democratic opponent in November — larger margins than President Donald Trump, who won 72.2% of the county's votes in the same election. The congressman won his district with 60.1% of the vote.
The Nebraska Democratic Party encouraged followers Tuesday to 'pack the place' and ask Flood questions at Tuesday's town hall.
One attendee accused Flood of being a 'fascist' and asked him if he would be willing to invoke articles of impeachment against Trump.
Flood denied the accusation, saying, 'I get that you get an applause line when you call me a fascist but I'm not. I am not a fascist, I'm an American, and I would never call you something like that.'
Yet another attendee accused him of lying over promises to protect health care, but voting in favor of the "Big Beautiful Bill," which could trigger cuts. The bill would slash hundreds of billions of dollars for Medicaid and SNAP.
In response, Flood said Nebraska does not provide benefits to undocumented immigrants, arguing that the bill's cuts would target that group of people and not his state. Some minutes later, Flood turned the question on the crowd, saying, 'Question for the audience, do you want illegal immigrants to get tax funded benefits?'
The crowd answered with a loud, 'Yes.' Flood replied, 'I would say that is not the majority opinion of most Nebraskans, however, next question.'
Tuesday's event comes two months after Flood hosted an earlier town hall in Columbus, Nebraska, during which the congressman also faced criticism. Several of Flood's colleagues faced tough questions from attendees since Trump returned to office at the beginning of the year, leading Republican congressional leadership in March to advise GOP members not to hold in-person town halls.
A spokesperson for Flood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Raquel Coronell Uribe
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