House Speaker Paul Ryan is slated to hold his first open town hall since October 2015 next week, where he is expected to take questions from constituents at an event moderated by CNN’s Jake Tapper.
The event will be held in Racine, Wisc., on Aug. 21. Ryan has received pushback from political foes for previously opting to hold telephone town halls and employee town halls in lieu of inviting people in his district to a live event.
According to CNN — which plans to televise the event at 9 p.m. ET — Ryan will take questions at the live event on how the party plans to proceed with the 2018 budget, raise the debt ceiling and work with President Donald Trump.
“These legislative ‘must dos’ come as the House Speaker is working to try and pass tax reform and an infrastructure package – massive undertakings that President Donald Trump has stated are priorities for his administration,” CNN said in a statement. “Ryan is also expected to outline House Republicans priorities for the fall.”
Ryan previously expressed concerns over holding public town halls earlier this summer in the wake of a number of GOP lawmakers facing heated protests at their events during their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare.
“Aside from the obvious security concerns, what we have found is there are people who are trying to come in from out of the district to disrupt town hall meetings and not have a civil discussion, so what I have been doing is looking for new and creative ways to interact with my constituents in a civil way,” he said at a Boy Scouts event in July.
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