GREEN BAY, WI- (WGBW) – US Representative Tony Wied spent just under 60 minutes answering questions from constituents at a “Tele-Town Hall” meeting Monday night. Wied is the Republican Representative from the 8th Congressional District, which covers a large portion of Northeast Wisconsin.

7th Congressional District Congressman, Tom Tiffany was a guest at the event and answered the questions alongside Wied.

The congressmen answered about a dozen questions from constituents on subjects such as Social Security, border security, Second Amendment rights, and veterans benefits.

Tony Wied on Medicare and Medicaid

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been directed to cut $880 billion to make way for the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that the Trump Administration wants. Some reports say this can not be done without making cuts to Medicare and Medicaid which make up the lion’s share of the funding from that committee.

One caller asked the congressmen what they would do to protect Medicaid and Medicare from drastic cuts. Both congressmen said they want to protect Medicaid. They each also implied that there are people on Medicaid who don’t need to be.

But I think it also means taking a serious look at reforms like work requirements for able-bodied, working-aged, childless adults,” said Tony Wied. “And making sure that, of course, those that aren’t citizens aren’t on Medicaid, because we just don’t have the funds for that.”

Tiffany echoed that sentiment.

“ Medicaid was put in place to protect people with disabilities, pregnant women, and children from poor families. That’s who that was meant for. And now we’ve seen a lot of people get on it that are able bodied adults, that they can work,” Tiffany said. “Do we want them getting their health care from the federal government, from you, the taxpayer? Wouldn’t it be better if they had a job, and they probably got their health care via their employer rather than getting it from the taxpayer?

Wied said looking for waste, fraud, and abuse in other discretionary spending in the budget is where the cuts should be made.

“I want to be very, very clear that my goal is to protect Medicaid for the most vulnerable Americans, which is what it was intended for, and it’s very important that we protect that,” Wied said. “That’s why I’m so passionate about rooting out the waste and all of the other discretionary spending.”

DOGE

Another caller asked about the wide range of cuts being made by the Department of Government Efficiency. Wied supports Elon Musk’s efforts. But claims he and other legislators are running the complaints they’ve received from constituents up the chain of command.

“Elon Musk has been very successful in business, and he is someone that is very good at big budgets and finding efficiencies. President Trump is in charge. He is our president. He is making the decisions,” Wied said. “You know, the whole role of the Department of Government Efficiency is to streamline the government’s outdated and bloated systems. And that’s to save things like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”

Many Republican lawmakers have faced protests, booing and antagonistic questions during in-person town hall events and appearances following the extreme cuts and measures the Donald Trump Administration has been making to overhaul the Federal Government. So, last week, the National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman, Rich Hudson, advised GOP lawmakers to stop conducting in-person events.

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