Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) faced some tough questions on Tuesday at a luncheon held in a Republican-heavy district in Kentucky.
McConnell is just one of many Republican lawmakers this week who met with testy constituents demanding answers about what Congress plans to do under President Donald Trump.
One moment from McConnell’s session with his constituents that seems designed to go viral is when Rose Mudd Perkins, a resident of Georgetown, Kentucky, confronted McConnell about Obamacare, veterans, and the reality of bringing coal jobs back to Kentucky.
Perkins started off by thanking McConnell for his years of service. She then shifted to food stamps: “You have to acknowledge, we’ve got too damn many people on food stamps in Kentucky.”
Roughly 9,000 people in Kentucky lost “food stamp” benefits, also known as SNAP, due to a federal crackdown last year, according to WDRB Louisville.
“And the last I heard, these coal jobs are not coming back and now these people don’t have the insurance they need ‘cuz they’re poor. And they worked those coal miners, and they’re sick, the veterans are sick, the veterans are broken down, said Perkins.
Perkins then ended with a dig at both McConnell and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The Senate earlier this month upheld Senate rules that ban impugning another senator as Warren delivered a lengthy speech against the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) during which she referred to a letter written by Coretta Scott King. Even though Warren was forced to end her speech, the move ended up reflecting negatively on the Republican majority in the Senate. #Shepersisted quickly became a hashtag on Twitter following the incident.
“If you can answer that, I will sit down and shut up like Elizabeth Warren,” said Perkins.
Angry constituent gives Mitch McConnell the what for pic.twitter.com/tyHseJVtqd
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 21, 2017
McConnell’s response was brief.
“I hope you feel better,” McConnell said.
Perkins later posted her reaction to McConnell’s non-response on Facebook, saying that he didn’t answer her question, so she is not going to sit down and shut up.
The level of vitriol around the country directed toward Republican lawmakers was so intense and widespread that even the president addressed it.
The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 21, 2017
The president did not include any evidence of that claim.