U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia) answered questions typed into a Zoom chat at a virtual town hall Thursday.
The congressman, who represents Michigan's 2nd Congressional District, answered questions about foreign policy, the economy and the Trump administration's effort to cut federal jobs and agencies.
The event comes as Democrats and Republicans across America, face angry questions from constituents about the reshaping of the federal government by the Trump administration.
Republican lawmakers have been advised by their party's leadership to avoid in-person town halls, as many have divulged into shouting matches and attract raucous crowds.
Last week, the local central Michigan chapter of the progressive group Indivisible invited Moolenaar to a town hall event in Mount Pleasant to address their concerns on threats to programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.
Moolenaar did not attend the March 20 town hall at the Isabella County Commission on Aging. A spokesperson for his office told WCMU at the time the congressman would not attend events that are designed for the sole purpose of "him to be heckled, screamed at, or threatened."
Moolenaar started the virtual town hall by praising the Trump administration for its swift action on the southern border and highlighted his ongoing bipartisan initiatives on bills to address tuberculosis and programs to support veterans.
He went on to say he supports Elon Musk's ongoing effort to cut jobs and agencies. He cited Musk’s running of SpaceX, Tesla and X as reasons for his confidence.
“President Trump was elected as a disruptor, someone who said he wanted to right-size the federal government, get rid of waste, fraud, and abuse,” Moolenaar said during the virtual town hall. “Now, is every decision they make, every action they take going to be 100% correct? No. Are mistakes going to be made? Yes,” he said.
Moolenaar did, however, express some problems with the Department of Government Efficiency's messaging.
"Some of the communication on the DOGE cuts and the approach has been concerning for people,” he said. “You had a situation where you would have people temporarily placed on leave, and I think that's created uncertainty and concern."
Still, he emphasized that DOGE was addressing its errors and vowed to keep working with the administration.
In February, Moolenaar supported a Republican-led resolution in the House that calls on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to find $880 billion worth of cuts. Experts argue that level of cost reduction cannot happen without cuts to programs like Medicaid and Medicare. State data says 2.6 million people in the Great Lakes state depend on Medicaid.
Moolenaar previously told WCMU the resolution will prevent tax increases for the middle class and protect "programs like Medicaid and SNAP for the people who need it most."
During Thursday's virtual town hall, Moolenaar said adding a work requirement onto Medicaid will be beneficial.
“I think that's important in our economy that people, able-bodied people work. It's good for them, it's good for our economy as well, and that would be a condition of receiving Medicaid.”
Moolenaar went onto to clarify he would not add work requirements for the disabled and supports continued funding for Social Security.
As chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Moolenaar voiced support for divesting from TikTok and reemphasized his opposition to the Gotion electric battery plant in Green Charter Township. He also expressed support for efforts to limit farmland sales to adversarial countries like China.
“My goal is to make sure that our taxpayer dollars are not funding businesses that are headquartered in our adversarial countries like China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, because I don't believe that's what our taxpayer dollars should be used for.”
