Republican Rep. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma on Wednesday night defended her use of remote town halls after a constituent on the call confronted her and accused her of dodging voters.
The question came from a constituent during a telephone town hall event featuring Republican Reps. Jason Smith of Missouri and Bruce Westerman of Arkansas, who each chair a House committee.
“Without dodging my question or giving me the okey doke, can you tell me why you are not holding in-person town halls, where you can look your constituents in the face, eye-to-eye, and answer tough questions?” the caller said.
“These town halls, telephone town halls, are a joke, and are screened, carefully screened. I had to pretend to be asking another question. I would have never gotten this question in,” the caller added.
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Bice was quick to respond, saying this is the 30th telephone town hall she has hosted, and that she speaks with her constituents in the district and in Washington, D.C., “all the time.”
“Let me make this very clear, I can reach several-thousand constituents when I dial out for these telephone town halls. I am never going to get that kind of engagement if I’m doing in-person town halls. I am lucky to get a couple hundred, and that’s on a great day,” Bice said. “I do not dodge my constituents.”
She said the telephone format also allowed her to have “expertise,” like Westerman and Smith, join in to help answer questions about the reconciliation bill that Republicans recently passed.
“I take offense to the idea that you think I’m dodging questions, because that’s not the case, and frankly, I’m glad you asked,” Bice added. “Especially for my senior citizens that are across the district, they have the opportunity to sit in their homes, listen to the answers that are being given and understand what’s happening in D.C., other than having to drive to a location, especially in the evening during the winter months in the dark.”
Earlier this year, Republicans faced backlash and angry crowds at both remote and in-person town halls due to Department of Government Efficiency cuts underway in Washington. It prompted the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Richard Hudson, to advise Republicans to host online events instead. Democrats used the opportunity to host town halls in states and districts dominated by Republicans, which they plan to continue doing to message against the reconciliation bill.
But the bit of criticism Wednesday night isn’t deterring Bice from hosting more telephone town halls in the future.
“I do these because they are effective, and I will continue to do them,” Bice said. “You will see me doing many more every month as long as I can do them.”
Bice, Westerman and Smith spent most of the hour-long event answering questions about what was included in the reconciliation bill and how it may affect Americans. The first question, however, was from a constituent curious about Bice’s stance on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Bice called Epstein “a disgusting individual whose conduct was morally reprehensible” and clarified that she had not voted to block the release of the files. Her “line in the sand” is ensuring the victims of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell have their identities protected in any files that are released.
“These young girls who were victimized by these horrible individuals deserve privacy in this situation, and for me, that’s paramount,” Bice said. “However we can provide transparency to the American people and still protect those individuals that were victimized in these horrible acts, I am for.”
“I think that you will see us discuss this when we return to Congress in September, provided that Secretary Bondi or others don’t already release this information,” Bice added.
This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Oklahoma Watch.
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