GOP Freshmen Take Heat For Ryan's Medicare Plan

During the two week recess in their home districts, Republican freshmen are getting challenged by constituents on their votes which would drastically change Medicare.

In Rep. Lou Barletta’s district (R-PA11), where the partisan voting index is D+4, things got so heated at a town hall last week that police were forced to escort one participant out of the meeting. Barletta was criticized for voting for Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, which would dramatically alter how Medicare works for those over the age of 55.

"You said nothing in the campaign about I’m going to change Medicare, now you voted for a plan that will destroy Medicare,” said one participant according to The Morning Call, a daily local newspaper.

Barletta was also criticized from the right, as one participant at the meeting also expressed displeasure that the Congressman was not able to hold out for larger spending cuts in the recently passed bill that would fund government through the end of the fiscal year.

Barletta has been especially quick in pushing back on accusations that Ryan’s budget would cut Medicare benefits for people over 55, and suggested that the town hall disruptions were part of a coordinated effort by Democrats to focus attacks on Republicans.

And indeed there does seem to be a lot of pressure on Republicans nationwide on the issue of Medicare. National Public Radio also did a segment on similar problems facing Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ01), who is taking heat from constituents upset from both conservative and liberal perspectives.

“I’m horrified by the plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system. I think that it will just send seniors into poverty,” said one retiree attending Gosar’s town hall, according to NPR.

Another freshman, Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA07), who represents a D+3 district, was challenged in an incident which shows how much misinformation has been involved in the debate. "How will you explain that to people who are in their fifties who are out of work, that they will have not the Medicare that I have?" one woman asked Meehan at a town hall meeting, according to The Hill.

There is certainly something to Barletta’s suggestion that some of the dissatisfaction over possible Medicare changes is driven by Democratic and progressive activists.

Democratic PACs have targeted over twenty-five House Republicans in an attempt to make an issue out of their votes on Paul Ryan’s budget proposal.

The DCCC is also targeting freshmen in a video accusing Republicans of lying about protecting Medicare, singling out Reps. Dan Benishek (R-MI01), Scott Tipton (R-CO03) and Renee Ellmers (R-NC02) – all in districts that only slightly lean Republican.

In addition, progressive group Americans United for Change will be running similar ads in the districts of freshmen Chip Cravaack (R-MN08) and Sean Duffy (R-WI07) among others.

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