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Congressman Tim Ryan Looks To The Future of the Affordable Care Act, And to the 2018 Elections

Congressman Tim Ryan discussed healthcare, infrastructure and the 2018 election during his town hall in Akron on Saturday. And he humorously side-stepped questions about a possible White House run in 2020.
KABIR BHATIA
/
WKSU
Congressman Tim Ryan discussed healthcare, infrastructure and the 2018 election during his town hall in Akron on Saturday. And he humorously side-stepped questions about a possible White House run in 2020.
Congressman Tim Ryan discussed healthcare, infrastructure and the 2018 election during his town hall in Akron on Saturday. And he humorously side-stepped questions about a possible White House run in 2020.
Credit KABIR BHATIA / WKSU
/
WKSU
Congressman Tim Ryan discussed healthcare, infrastructure and the 2018 election during his town hall in Akron on Saturday. And he humorously side-stepped questions about a possible White House run in 2020.

Northeast Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan is already looking to the future when it comes to the Affordable Care Act. He says it's not perfect, and lawmakers need to sit down and find ways to fix it.

More than 200 people attended Ryan's town hall at the University of Akron on Saturday, a day after House Republicans backed away from voting on a replacement for Obamacare.

Ryan says one of the reasons for that may be the public response lawmakers got from constituents. President Trump said he plans to wait for Obamacare to explode, but Ryan says that’s not a good idea, either.

“For those people who, maybe the Affordable Care Act was not working for, now you’re punishing them.

"Let’s sit down and help them. His plan was going to throw 24 million people off of healthcare; we’re trying to get people onto healthcare. And we need the president to be an adult and sit down and work with us.”

Ryan is also looking to next year’s mid-term elections, saying voters in Northeast Ohio need to get more involved in the process to help his party recapture the House. He said Democrats cannot just be the anti-President Trump party, and he used the Republicans’ wins last year as an example.

Ryan on 2018

“They campaigned on just being against Obama. That was all they campaigned on, right? And then when they got in, they don’t even know what to do -- because they spent the last seven years being anti-Obama. I don’t want to spend the next few years just being anti-Trump, and then we get in and are like, ‘OK, now what do we do?’”

Ryan said one of the things he would like to do is expand broadband throughout the country, which he believes would create jobs for installers and help communities attract businesses.

Copyright 2021 WKSU. To see more, visit WKSU.

Congressman Tim Ryan Looks To The Future of the Affordable Care Act, And to the 2018 Elections

Kabir Bhatia joined WKSU as a Reporter/Producer and weekend host in 2010. A graduate of Hudson High School, he received his Bachelor's from Kent State University. While a Kent student, Bhatia served as a WKSU student assistant, working in the newsroom and for production.