SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - As Congressman Darrell Issa continues to come under fire for his decision to vote in favor of the American Health Care Act, he sat down with CBS News 8 on Friday for a one-on-one conversation.
From talking about President Trump to the recent clashes he's had with protesters, no topic was off limits for the congressman.
Issa said the recent protests against him are part of the process as constituents expressed their fury against the Republican congressman over his vote to repeal Obamacare.
"They are concerned - liberal Bernie Sanders people who feel like they have not been heard. The bill [American Health Care Act] still isn't perfect, but it is a lot better than where we started," said Issa.
Congressman Issa told CBS News 8 he voted for the bill because he believes it's leading health care in the right direction.
"The changes in there were changes that people needed to have - including moving responsibility back to the states," he said.
As for older Americans seeing premiums rise under the new bill, Congressman Issa says they are the ones with money therefore poor young, healthy Americans should not be subsidizing them. The congressman advocates younger workers getting health insurance - which brings him full circle to moving responsibility back to the states.
"If you are going to have, let's say $15 an-hour minimum wage, how about some of that counting toward the health care cost to encourage employers to get back in the game," he said.
Issa was first elected to Congress in 2000. He has easily won re-election every two years, but that changed last year when he narrowly defeated a relatively unknown challenger in Doug Applegate, who announced another bid for the House of Representatives in 2018.
CBS News 8 asked Issa, "Are San Diegans turning on him?" The congressman deflected the blame.
He said millions of dollars were spent by outside groups, including Nancy Pelosi, towards directing "outright lies" about his record.
When questioned about Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election, he said he does believe Russians meddled in the election. However, he has no problem with the president meeting with the Russian ambassador.
Congressman Issa also supported the firing of FBI director James Comey.
The Congressman said he wants to move forward with other issues affecting our country, including the sewage moving in from Mexico and making it easier for well educated foreign workers to be hired by local biotech companies.
If you would like to ask Congressman Issa your own question, he currently has a town hall scheduled for May 31st in Oceanside.
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