Barr says don't worry about Trump and Musk, but declines chance to reassure town hall in Lexington
LEXINGTON — If Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr is having any second thoughts about the Trump agenda, he didn't let on Wednesday as he assured a business luncheon that 'short-term disruptions' to the economy caused by trade disputes and tariffs will be worth it.
Barr did not mention the protesters who lined High Street in front of the Hyatt Regency where he was speaking or the upcoming town hall that he has declined to attend.
'I'm really optimistic about the future,' said Barr, who is considering a run for U.S. Senate next year to succeed the retiring Mitch McConnell.
'Obviously, we live in divided times, but I think what can unite the country more than anything else is success,' Barr told a Commerce Lexington Public Policy Luncheon.
Afterwards, speaking to media, Barr said he would be holding a tele-town hall Monday night and had discovered during the first Trump administration that 'live in-person massively attended town halls were shouting contests where people were really not respectful and were not listening to one another.'
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson recently encouraged Republicans to avoid town halls which have been attracting vocal critics of actions by Republican President Donald Trump and his adviser, billionaire Elon Musk, who is leading an effort to ferret out waste and fraud that has included firing federal employees, halting some government payments and uprooting programs.
Barr, who has held telephone town halls in the past, said he would be able to reach 70,000 constituents via the technology.
In Lexington, Barr's hometown, a group called Gathering Democracy decided to schedule a town hall after failing to get a commitment from Barr, despite making numerous requests, said Judith Humble of Lexington, a member of the organizing committee.
'Our group informed his offices of the date of our event and invited him. We were advised by his staff that he would not attend,' Humble said.
A flyer for the Saturday, March 22, event says Barr has declined the invitation 'but we hope he'll change his mind' and that there will be 'a chair and micro-phone for him.' The event will begin at 10 a.m. at the Kentucky Theatre. Former Lexington Vice Mayor Steve Kay will moderate.
Humble said the group's goal was to have a respectful, nonpartisan gathering. Security has been arranged, she said. Speakers will be given three minutes; a video of the event, along with written comments from audience members, will be sent to Barr, Humble said.
Referring to Johnson's claims that professional protesters have been disrupting Republican lawmakers' town halls, Humble said, 'I don't doubt that outbursts have occurred at some town halls, as feelings are running high about recent administrative actions.' But, she said, 'our intention is to offer a peaceful, orderly event to facilitate dialogue.'
Barr, 51, who went to Congress after unseating Democratic incumbent Ben Chandler in 2012, spoke at length about the need to reduce the national debt and also called for extending tax cuts enacted during Trump's first administration.
Asked about cuts in research funding to the University of Kentucky, Barr reassured the gathering based on what he said Musk had told him 'face to face' about his cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE.
University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto said last month that changes in research funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would cost UK at least $40 million over the next year.
'Don't worry about DOGE with respect to meritorious investments,' Barr said. 'We're going to continue to fund those.' Barr specifically mentioned NIH funding for UK's Markey Cancer Center and the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging. Barr also said he was optimistic about obtaining funding for a new control tower at Lexington's airport which would facilitate expanding the terminal.
Barr said Musk also had told him that he is not pursuing broad reductions in the federal workforce. Barr said that by asking federal employees to report five things they had accomplished the prior week, Musk was performing 'just a pulse check' to find out if there's 'a human being behind those numbers and in many cases there are not.'
Describing himself as 'at core a free trader,' Barr said Trump's tariffs will ultimately open markets to U.S. products and that the administration is aware of concerns about the effects of retaliatory tariffs on Kentucky's bourbon industry.
Barr said India recently lowered its tariff on bourbon, saying that 'sweet corn-based Kentucky whiskey goes perfectly with the spicy Indian palate.'
Barr did not interact with protesters gathered outside, whose signs elicited lots of horn honking from passing motorists and whose chants included 'Andy Barr, where are you? Do your job. Stop the coup.'
Maureen McCormick, 72, of Lexington told the Lantern that if she could question Barr she would ask 'Why is he not standing up for us as well as for our democracy. What is his reason?'
Janice George, 60, said she drove from her home in Maysville, which is in Republican Thomas Massie's congressional district, because she would have had to have driven further, to LeGrange, to protest a Massie event. She said she also would ask Barr 'what is he doing to save democracy; it's being stripped away by Musk and Trump and he's doing nothing.'
Mike Donnelly, 77, of Lexington, said, 'I really fear that our government is headed to a dictatorship. Our founders based our government on three co-equal branches of government. Congress has obviously rolled over and will do whatever the executive wants and the executive wants power like never before.' Donnelly said he lacks confidence in the U.S. Supreme Court after it ruled Trump is immune to criminal charges.
'I'm not clutching my pearls or overestimating. We are in deep, deep trouble, and Andy Barr is not helping,' Donnelly said.
Asked by reporters about the protesters and constituents who complain he's not hearing them, Barr said, 'Obviously, democracy is alive and well. And for those who think that there is some threat to democracy, I think today's demonstration shows that there is no threat to democracy.
'In fact, we are living in a vibrant democracy, and 77 million Americans voted for this new administration, I would argue, to my constituents who are protesting.'
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