FILE - In this April 12, 2017 file photo, people react as House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. speaks at a town hall meeting in The Dalles, Ore. In the auditorium of his old middle school just blocks from where he still lives, the congressman who is a lead author of the stalled House Republican health care bill was treated like the villain in a class play in a town hall meeting. Walden ran into the same anger that has unnerved his Republican colleagues at similar sessions and prompted others to not even bother holding them. (Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian via AP, File)
April 17, 2017 - 12:45 AM
HOOD RIVER, Ore. - Republican congressman Greg Walden found a hostile audience when he hosted a town hall in his Oregon home town last week.
Roughly 800 people turned out to confront the 10-term congressman on issues like health care, immigration, the environment and Syria. Walden is a magnet for questions about health care because he is a lead author of the stalled House Republican health care bill.
In the town of Hood River, Walden drew criticism over health care but assured people there were parts of the current law he would keep, such as a ban on lifetime coverage limits.
Republican lawmakers have been facing the same angry buzz saw in town halls elsewhere in the U.S., a response to the policies of President Donald Trump and others in the GOP leadership.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017