An overflow crowd crammed the Visitors' Center at Living History Farms in Urbandale for a lively town hall meeting with 3rd District Congressman David Young. The exchanges between the Republican and audience occasionally turned heated.
Questions came on a range of topics during the 75-minute session, which was organized just a day earlier. Audience members asked about Young’s stances on positions held by the Trump administration regarding immigration, money for Planned Parenthood and funding for the arts. The congressman’s answers were frequently greeted by shouts from the crowd, as in this response to a question about repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.
“I am for making sure we are deliberate and we are thoughtful and we can continue to have a civil discussion here today if we really want to talk about this,” he says as voices from the audience nearly drown him out.
He offers one area of Obamacare he'd like to see changed.
“The individual and employer mandate bother me because I’ve heard from small businesses who aren’t able to grow because of some of those mandates,” he says.
To more hoots from the crowd, Young says he voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act during the Obama presidency largely as a symbolic act.
The crowd was similar in size and tone to those drawn by Senators Grassley and Ernst during the congressional break. The loudest cheer of support Representative Young received came when he agreed President Trump should release his tax records.
