By Jared Raney
Reporter

Senator Ron Johnson spent an afternoon at Hotel Crandon last weekend, during a series of appearances around the Northwoods, public town hall meetings in Crandon, Merrill and Prentice, among others.

Sen. Johnson addressed a roomful of mostly supporters in Crandon as he toured the northern part of the state.

While in Crandon, Johnson answered citizens’ questions on everything from defunding Planned Parenthood to Veteran Healthcare.

Also included was Johnson’s emphatic disagreement with the Trump immigration plan, and concerns about the growth of government.

“We’ve already held eight hearings on border security alone, we’re actually going to be publishing our 100 page plus report,” Johnson said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen, I don’t think it’s practical to do it,” he said of Donald Trump’s plan, which is an expansive effort that includes building a wall across the entire southern border, instituting criminal penalties for overstaying visas, defunding sanctuary cities and ending birthright citizenship, among other aspects.

Johnson deviated very little from the GOP agenda, criticizing President Obama’s role in declining military standards and military spending, especially on social programs for the enlisted, and “poisoning the well” on immigration reform.

“By the way that’s President Obama’s idea,” Johnson said of the Pentagon Budget Control Act, commonly referred to by its shorthand name ‘sequester,’ though the term and concept originally stems from a law passed in 1985, according to Politico.com. “I thought it was such a stupid and bad way [to do the budget].”

He fielded questions about child obesity and food labeling, the Iran deal and Frontier Internet.

“We could spend all day here, kind of muttering into our glass about the problems facing this nation,” Johnson said. “The root cause of our problem here, is, in terms of government, is the size of the federal government. All the things it’s doing, that it never was intended to do, and quite honestly that it’s incapable of doing.”
Listen to a recording of the public meeting in Crandon, below.

This recording of Ron Johnson’s public meeting in Crandon has been edited for length and continuity.