GOP lawmaker faces raucous crowd in Wisconsin, critical questions over tariffs and immigration policy

By Betul Tuncer, Eric Bradner, CNN

(CNN) — Republican Rep. Bryan Steil faced a rowdy crowd at a town hall-style event in Wisconsin on Thursday, with attendees angrily confronting him over a wide range of topics, including tariffs, President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful Bill,” the war in Gaza and immigration policy.

Audience members frequently interrupted Steil as he spoke, often drowning him out with boos and yelling, though there were also moments where the congressman’s remarks were met with applause.

The event – which the congressman’s office described as a “listening session,” comes as House members have returned to their districts for a weekslong district work period for the month of August.

It featured a number of critical questions from the audience over the treatment of immigrants under the Trump administration. At one point, an audience member started chanting, “We are all immigrants,” as the congressman discussed border security.

“It’s not politics, it’s morality,” one audience member told Steil, saying, “I care about people, and what I see happening to our immigrant population embarrasses me, and you have not raised a voice to complain about it. Where do I see your leadership? I see no leadership, I see following Trump 100% of the time.”

A different attendee told the congressman, “I am so disappointed. I am so disappointed in how you represent us as the citizens of Walworth County. Southeast Wisconsin has not been represented by you. President Trump seems to run Southeast Wisconsin through you.”

Another audience member said that his “main concern” is tariffs.

“I was under the impression that Congress was responsible for issuing tariffs,” he said. “I really feel that this is a terrible tax that’s going to be placed on the citizens of the United States.”

The congressman began to respond, by saying, “This really at its core needs to be an opportunity to make sure that other countries are treating the United States fairly,” a remark that was met with booing.

“What we need to do is work with our allies, put trade agreements in place,” he said as he was repeatedly interrupted by yelling from the crowd.

“I think part of this is what gives Trump the authority to put in place the tariffs. The authority that he’s operating under is, as it relates to the imbalance of trade,” Steil said. “There’s a court case that’s going on right now where there’ll be more clarity provided on this, but that’s the authority that he’s operating under.”

The event’s moderator had to interject on multiple occasions in an effort to get the crowd to quiet down. At one point, the moderator interrupted a yelling outburst by jokingly asking if the crowd would“rather the congressman go to lunch and you get to shout for the next 45 minutes?” and called out a specific audience member as “very obnoxious and very disrespectful.”

At one point, the congressman said, “The civil discourse that is a cornerstone of our democracy is challenged right now.”

Not long after, he said, “I don’t support anybody denigrating anyone else. People have a right of free speech. But a lot of our discourse, writ large, is really challenged. It’s challenged on all sides. So I think we have a real opportunity to improve our discourse a little bit. I’d say the overwhelming majority of people here want to learn and understand my perspective, want to hear the questions, and then there’s a small group of people that are challenging and are booing and yelling at each other. The same occurs in Washington. I share the frustration.”

On Trump’s sweeping tax and spending law known as the “big, beautiful bill,” one person asked what is being done to protect individuals who are not wealthy, raising concerns that tax breaks under the legislation will only accrue to higher-earners.

The congressman responded, “In part, I would disagree with the way you framed it. As I look at the provisions of the bill, and what was in large part done, was keeping the 2017 tax reforms in place, that’s the bulk of the bill,” but was soon interrupted by shouting from the crowd.

He added, “It builds onto that additional tax reforms for hard-working families.”

Towards the end of the event, a man jumped up from his seat to question Steil on the war in Gaza.

“Two million people in Gaza are starving – what do you have to say about that?” the man shouted, then stood up and waved his arms in the air. A police officer approached the man, who then sat back down. The officer appeared to say something to the man and then walked away.

Shortly after the outburst, a different audience member pressed the congressman to answer the earlier question.

“To me, the easy answer to address this crisis is for Hamas to surrender and release the hostages. That ends the war tomorrow,” Steil said. “Israel was unfairly, unjustly attacked, their civilians were killed and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.”

Steil said, “Israel has a right to defend itself,” but paused amid shouting from the crowd. Soon after, amid continued disruptions from the audience, the moderator moved to conclude the event, saying “We’re gonna close it off here because there’s no point in continuing.”

Pocan calls Van Orden ‘missing in action’ at town hall in GOP congressman’s hometown

Separately, Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat, told a crowd at a different event Thursday night he knew it was “a little douchey” to hold a town hall in the Wisconsin congressional district – and hometown – of neighboring Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden.

But Van Orden is “missing in action,” refusing to hold town halls of his own, and Democrats need to push back harder against the GOP’s massive tax and domestic policy bill, Pocan said.

“I think doing, bluntly, town halls in Republican districts where they refuse to do them is one of the best things we can do,” Pocan said. He called himself an “early adopter” of the tactic and said other progressive lawmakers are following suit.

“I think this is what we need to do. I mean, is this in your face. Is this a little douchey? Yes,” he said. “But you know what? Taking away your health care and taking away your education funding and adding $4 trillion to the national debt so that the richest people are getting a tax cut is enough that we need to push back.”

Pocan told CNN after the town hall that he’d come to Prairie du Chien to goad Van Orden into publicly defending the GOP bill that President Donald Trump signed into law on July 4.

“Come on down the road, Derrick,” he said. “If you really think this bill’s as good as you’ve been saying it is, not in front of people, let’s have an actual debate. Let’s talk about the various parts of it. The fact he won’t doesn’t pass the Wisconsin smell test.”

Pocan’s hour-long town hall, in front of an audience of about 50 people in the town of about 5,000 was a friendly one with none of the fiery exchanges that other town halls across the nation have featured.

Pocan was asked questions largely from the left, about ways Democrats can be more aggressive in taking on Trump. He was also asked about immigration policies, the sustainability of Social Security and Medicare, and about whether he fears Trump will declare martial law and cancel upcoming elections.

He focused most of his comments on railing against Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” — but peppered the entire hour with jabs at Van Orden for failing to host town halls.

Van Orden’s office did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on Pocan’s town hall.

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