3 takeaways from Rep. Newhouse’s 1st phone town hall since 2024 election

Rep. Dan Newhouse downplayed the impacts from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in a telephone town hall on Monday, saying negative repercussions from the Trump Administration’s marquee legislation “just aren’t true.”

The Sunnyside Republican answered nearly 20 questions from central Washington constituents – who dialed in from Tonasket to White Salmon– on a variety of topics, including immigration enforcement, federal workforce cuts and rural health care.

More than 18,700 listened in, said the congressman’s communications director, Matt Reed.

Newhouse also addressed a spree of threats made to him and his staffers by a Western Washington suspect, who now is awaiting trial. The congressman was advised in March not to hold in-person public events, according to the Spokesman Review.

He thanked those who reached out with their concerns and well-wishes.

“We as a nation – and you’ve seen this kind of thing happen all over the country – we need to lower the collective temperature and work together to face the issues that impact all of us as Americans,” Newhouse said. “That’s really the only way we’re going to be able to solve problems.”

Callers were allowed to enter a queue to ask a question of Newhouse during the hour-and-a-half event. Here are the takeaways:

1.

Newhouse defends Medicaid cuts, says it will save program

Newhouse touted the benefits and tax breaks included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law on July 4 by President Trump.

But callers who asked questions of Newhouse were split on the legislation. One said it increased the nation’s debt “on the backs of the working poor.”

Newhouse dismissed that characterization.

“Is this a perfect piece of legislation? There’s never been one,” he said. “There may be some hiccups and some wrinkles that we have to straighten out. But I think, overall, we are on the right path to making sure Medicaid is sustainable for the future.”

Big changes are coming to the program and are expected to have an outsized impact on central Washington, which is heavily dependent on social safety net programs, such as SNAP and Medicaid.

The bill instituted new Medicaid work requirements for childless, able-bodied recipients, more eligibility checks and institutes nearly $1 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years.

About 12 million people are expected to lose coverage across the nation, including nearly 250,000 Washingtonians on Apple Health. Hospitals across the Evergreen State are expected to lose $662 million in revenue, with the hardest hit expected in Central Washington.

He says Medicaid reform was necessary to keep the program solvent and ensure the program can continue to be funded and preserved for those who need it most, “the disabled, the pregnant mothers, the senior citizens.”

He says several hospitals in the district have “voiced support” it. Newhouse also says he’s been “reassured” that Washington won’t be left out from a $50 billion rural hospital health fund because it’s a blue state.

Newhouse says the program was on an “unsustainable path” forward.” Plus, he believes those who are able to should be working 20 hours a week – either at a job or through volunteering – or be attending college.

“It will be up to them to make that decision,” Newhouse said. “You would be very angry with me if I didn’t make decisions that made sure Medicaid could continue on into the future, because it’s a program that many people – many people in central Washington – depend on for their health care.”

2.

On ICE arresting criminals, Newhouse says ‘take them all’

The Sunnyside Republican didn’t mince words when it comes to immigration enforcement: leave hard-working migrants and temporary agriculture workers alone, but take the “criminals.”

“I’m with the president on wanting to get rid of all the drug dealers, all the criminals – take them all, every single one of them. I don’t want any of them here. But, if somebody is here legally, if they get swept up in a raid at wherever they work, that’s just not right and we need to get to the bottom of this,” he said.

Trump’s effort to carry out the “largest deportation operation in American history” has had a chilling effect on the Latino and immigrant communities.

The number of deportations has not been made publicly available, but more than 56,000 immigrants were detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in a July tally, reported NBC News. About a quarter of them have pending criminal charges.

Those enforcement efforts have even separated Tri-City families.

A Pasco father and mechanic was deported in June after months at Tacoma’s ICE facility. And a beloved Kennewick food truck owner was also deported to Mexico, leaving his wife to run their business and raise their two children. One had a DUI conviction five years ago and the other a decade-old misdemeanor drug possession conviction.

A caller from Prosser said “essential migrants” with work visas also have been deported with no criminal background.

Her co-workers have had several family members deported. A personal friend of hers is being deported along with his teenage daughter, and could be separated at the ICE facility.

“I don’t support that. I oppose people who are here legally being deported,” Newhouse said.

He also touted his Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which has twice passed the U.S. House of Representatives but has stalled both times in the Senate. The bill would make modern reforms to the U.S. H-2A worker program establish a pathway for immigrant workers to obtain legal status.

“I think that under the Trump Administration we might have the best time we’ve had in a long time to get something really positive done for the laws surrounding our agricultural visa program,” he said.

Newhouse says the border is “just about sealed off,” and that the Republican administration has “truly done some good things that have stopped the flow of illegal aliens into our country.”

“The fact of the matter is, these are essential workers on our farms that we have to have in order to produce food for our country,” he said. “It’s certainly a food security issue, but as you’ve heard it’s national security as well. We cannot be dependent on other countries for all of our food.”

3. Newhouse agrees with Trump, except on this

Newhouse also took the chance to bolster his support for the Trump’s work to his constituents, lending praise for the president’s action to “reverse course” on efforts to breach the four lower Snake River dams.

“To me, protecting the dams remains one of my top priorities, and I am committed to working with the administration to ensure these critical pieces of infrastructure continue to support our region,” he said.

But there’s one area Newhouse said he explicitly disagrees with Trump on: The wanton reduction of the region’s large federal and scientific workforce, including at the Hanford nuclear site, LIGO observatory, Bonneville Power Administration and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

“We’ll keep advocating for those things that really are investments into some pretty important things for our country,” he said.

Newhouse characterized some of the early DOGE cuts, specifically those done to the BPA, as “draconian.”

“I think we need to be very thoughtful and strategic about how we make reductions in any part of our federal government, employees included,” he said.