WASHINGTON – Last Thursday night, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., got a small taste of the emotions that some members of Congress have encountered back home.

A man named Clayton dialed into Lankford’s call-in meeting with constituents and said his 8-year-old daughter has diabetes and his wife has breast cancer.

The man from Edmond, Oklahoma, said he worries that Republican health care reforms will remove the Affordable Care Act’s ban on lifetime coverage limits imposed by insurers. “That’s what’s keeping me up at night,” he said.

Lankford was sympathetic but like many other lawmakers, he has no plans to meet large groups of such constituents face-to-face in the coming week.

He won’t be holding any town hall meetings during the recess when he and other members of Congress return home.

Almost none of 43 Senate and House members contacted by CNHI plan to hold town hall-style meetings during the period set aside for lawmakers to meet with constituents.

Lawmakers cited scheduling conflicts in an unusually busy season as the reason, and not because they’re avoiding the boisterous protests faced by some members, such as Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.

An estimated 1,000 people reportedly jammed a Salt Lake City auditorium this month to jeer at Chaffetz for supporting President Trump’s policies. The crowd chanted at times, “Do Your Job.”

A spokesman for Rep. Mike Kelly, a Republican from western Pennsylvania, acknowledged protests organized by progressive groups are a factor in the congressman’s decision not to hold an in-person, town hall meeting.

“These pre-planned protests unfairly deny constituents an honest forum with their representatives and ultimately render the events useless,” said the spokesman, Tom Qualtere.

Instead, Kelly will hold a tele-meeting Monday, Feb. 27, “to best serve our constituents and ensure their safety,” he said.

Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., will meet constituents “in small group settings,” said spokesman Jay Kenworthy.

Town hall meetings are “not the best way to have constructive dialogue with Hoosiers,” he said.

Lankford spokeswoman Aly Beley, however, said the Senate has had fewer days off thus far this year than is typical. As a result, long-planned business back home is being jammed into next week’s schedule.

Spokespeople for other members of Congress said they won’t be holding town halls because they’ll be away on trips. Others declined to explain why no large meetings are planned.

Rebecca Neal, spokeswoman for Rep. Evan Jenkins, R-W.Va., would not say whether any town halls are planned. She said only that Jenkins will keep constituents updated on “what the congressman is up to” on Facebook.

He also held a call-in meeting with constituents last week.

During an hour-long call with constituents by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., on Thursday, a woman identifying herself as Kay described the format as a “cop out” that allowed Toomey to “avoid confrontation.”

Toomey responded, “This is a very useful way to hear from lots of people.”

His spokeswoman, E.R. Anderson, said Toomey has been to all 67 counties in the state at least twice since taking office, and he’s held 14 town meetings, usually during the summer.

But Ben Wikler, the Washington, D.C. director of MoveOn.org, a progressive group helping to organize “Resistance Recess” protests next week, said members of Congress “should be ready to stand and defend themselves to people’s faces instead of run cowering from them.”

Some Democrats also said they will not hold town hall meetings.

Jacklin Rhoades, spokeswoman for Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said he has meetings scheduled next week with groups including ones that represent refugees or are interested in economic development.

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s office said his plans were still being made Friday.

According to the “Recess Resistance” website, protests are planned at the offices of  Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., Tuesday. A spokeswoman for Perdue said  he represents those on both parties “and appreciates their feedback.” and will be meeting with constituents. But no town halls are planned.

The website said protests are also planned at speeches scheduled by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in his home state. McConnell’s office did not say if any town halls are planned.

Groups are also planning several “constituent town halls” to protest Toomey and others for not holding events.

Some Republican aides on Capitol Hill dismissed the protests as the actions of liberal groups.

Nick McGee, spokesman for Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind., noted the congressman and Trump won with large margins in the district around Terre Haute.

He and Rep. Susan Brooks, R-Ind., will be on a trade mission in Japan next week. But McGee said Bucshon plans to hold town meetings in the future.

“If national liberal organizations want to come to Indiana in an attempt to impede Dr. Bucshon’s interactions with Hoosiers … he does not intend to allow that to happen,” McGee said.

Protests have been attributed to former Democratic congressional staffers who wrote an online guide to influencing Congress after the election, patterned after the grassroots activity of the Tea Party.

One of the guide’s authors, Ezra Levin, an aide to former Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said in a January call with organizers that he and other “recovering Hill staffers” had organized a group, Indivisible, to link activists and organize protests.

Despite facing a Democratic president and Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, the Tea Party movement succeeded in putting pressure on lawmakers locally.

“The political laws of gravity will still apply,” Levin said on the call, recorded by MoveOn.org. “Individual members of Congress don’t care about anything … more than getting themselves re-elected.”

Kery Murakami is the Washington, D.C. reporter for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Contact him at kmurakami@cnhi.com.

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