Shouts of "Vote him out!" echoed through a packed Nebraska town hall on Monday as Rep. Mike Flood struggled to defend President Trump's policy and tax bill—and faced an audience ready to challenge every word. About 750 attendees made their dissatisfaction clear during the event at Kimball Hall in Lincoln, descending into heckling and loud boos as the Republican attempted to explain provisions of the so-called "big, beautiful bill," particularly its changes to health care and Medicaid. As audience members questioned how the Republican could vote to take health care away from Nebraskans, Flood sought to address what he described as misinformation about the bill, per ABC News.
He tried to walk through health care aspects, emphasizing that the bill's Medicaid changes wouldn't affect disabled individuals, seniors, pregnant people, or anyone considered vulnerable. A key flashpoint was the bill's stance on Medicaid coverage for working-age adults. "If you are able to work, and you're 28 years old and you choose not to work, you don't get free health care in America. If you are in this country illegally, you do not get free health care in America," Flood said, drawing a vocal negative reaction.
Discussion turned heated again as tax policy came up. While Flood highlighted provisions like no tax on tips or overtime and pitched the law as a middle-class tax cut, audience members instead called for higher taxes on the wealthy and repeatedly chanted, "Tax the Rich!" Flood pushed back, contending that taxing high earners, as proposed by Democrats, would not fill budget gaps and would hurt job and business growth. But he "was continuously drowned out by the raucous crowd," per ABC. "How much do the taxpayers have to pay for a fascist country?" one attendee asked, per CNN, drawing cheers from the crowd. Another said Flood was complicit in a "fascist machine."