Republican Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood vigorously defended President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act and its reforms to Medicaid while facing a hostile crowd at a Monday night town hall.
Flood, one of few lawmakers planning to hold in-person town halls during the August district work period, encountered near-constant heckling — including shouts of “Tax the Rich” and “Free Palestine” — during the hour-long event in Lincoln, Nebraska. Despite the raucous crowd attempting to drown out Flood’s remarks, the Nebraska Republican sought to combat “misinformation” about the president’s signature law against scathing criticism from attendees whose far-left stances appeared to be out of step with the median voter.
“More than anything, I truly believe this bill protects Medicaid for the future,” Flood said during the town hall event, inviting a round of boos. “We protected Medicaid.”
A majority of Americans approved of new Medicaid work requirements within the president’s “big, beautiful” law — including 47% of Democrats — according to a March poll conducted by the nonpartisan health policy research firm KFF. However, many in the audience grilled the Nebraska Republican for supporting the provision.
“One of those changes [to Medicaid] is that if you are able to work, and you are able-bodied, you have to work,” Flood said during the town hall regarding the imposition of new Medicaid work requirements for able-bodied adults and parents with children ages 14 and older, inviting a torrent of angry jeers from the crowd.
“If you choose not to work, you do not get free health care. You do not get free healthcare,” Flood added, prompting more boos.
“So here’s a question: Do you think that people who are 28 years old that can work and refuse to work should get free health care?” Flood asked? The crowd proceeded to erupt in approval.
“I don’t think the majority of Nebraskans agree with you,” Flood said in response.
Flood’s decision to go to the mat for the president’s sweeping law comes as House Republicans’ campaign arm is urging GOP lawmakers to defend the legislation’s reforms to Medicaid amid Democrats’ blistering attacks, which has often veered into hyperbole.
“Democrats are fearmongering about Republican efforts to strengthen Medicaid, but we can’t let them control the narrative,” a memo from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), House Republicans’ campaign arm, published on July 28 states.
Despite Flood trouncing his Democratic opponent by 20 percentage points last November and the state’s Republican leanings, the GOP lawmaker encountered mostly overtly hostile questions during the town hall event. The Nebraska Democratic Party encouraged Democratic voters to show up to the town hall event and hinted that they should disrupt Flood’s remarks.
“Voters of #NE01, you know what to do!” the state Democratic Party wrote in a post to the social media platform X on Monday afternoon.
Left-wing activist groups backed by George Soros, including Indivisible and MoveOn, mobilized protestors to disrupt town halls held by Republican lawmakers earlier this year.
The mostly left-wing audience heckled Flood when he discussed how the tax provisions in the president’s signature bill, including no taxes on tip, a raise in the child tax credit, and a new deduction for seniors, would benefit a wide array of his constituents. They also hurled shouts when the Nebraska Republican defended restricting illegal immigrants’ access to Medicaid, condemned open-border policies and argued that elite universities’ antisemitism problem should not go unpunished.
A particularly charged moment arose when a woman who described her question as “fiscal” asked Flood point-blank “how much does it cost for fascism?” She cited the construction of immigration detention facilities such as Alligator Alcatraz and railed against the Trump administration providing extensive resources for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to execute the president’s deportation policies. Another attendee likened the facility to “Alligator Auschwitz” in a comparison of the president’s immigration enforcement policies to the Holocaust.
“How much do the taxpayers have to pay for a fascist country?” the woman shouted at Flood without blinking, eliciting a standing ovation from the audience.
The crowd proceeded to get more vicious as Flood defended enforcing the country’s immigration laws. The woman unleashed a guttural scream when the Nebraska Republican argued that open border policies had enabled the flow of fentanyl and human trafficking into the United States from across the southern border.
“Americans voted for a border that is secure [in November],” Flood said while the crowd continued to rage. “And I support the president enforcing our immigration laws, which, by the way, were written by Congress.”
Flood was asked again about allegedly enabling fascism through his support of the president from an attendee who characterized the Trump administration as a “fascist machine.”
“Fascists don’t hold town halls with open question-and-answer series,” Flood said in response while continuing to take questions from the belligerent crowd.
“It’s a shame that billionaire-funded Democrat activists are drowning out real constituents at town halls,” NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The fact is, most Nebraskans agree with Congressman Flood, not the mob.”
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