At Foster town hall, concerns over Social Security, tariffs – and if Dems wants to impeach Trump again

In front of a generally friendly crowd in red McHenry County, U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, explained the House Democrats’ “calculation” on whether to impeach President Donald Trump again.

An audience member at a Foster town hall meeting Wednesday evening at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake asked the congressman when the Democrats would move to impeach Trump, citing the deportation of immigrants without due process. Much of the audience clapped when the member finished their question.

Foster said “virtually every Democrat in Congress is on your side.” He said he and probably most Democrats feel “we have to wait until we can get Republicans willing to stand up” and join the Democrats on impeachment.

Foster mentioned Trump’s second impeachment after protesters overran the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Senate acquitted Trump after he left office, and Foster said sometimes it’s hard for him and his staff to work with Republicans who supported Jan. 6 “rioters.”

Other issues people raised at the town hall included Social Security, tariffs and what some audience members said they perceive to be an erosion of due process.

When asked about tariffs, Foster said the Founding Fathers “intended Congress to be the big dog in tariffs.” But Congress can delegate tariffs to the presidency and has gotten into regional fights about tariffs, Foster said.

[ See more photos from Rep. Bill Foster's town hall meeting in Crystal Lake ]

“The president is someone who, in principle, should have the best interests of the whole country at heart,” Foster said, contending that, instead, the president sees tariffs as a “business opportunity.”

Foster said there are times where tariffs are necessary, mentioning the rare earth magnet industry.

One audience member said: “I’m just very concerned about Social Security, and I want to be sure that my Social Security is safe, and I want to know what you personally are doing” to protect it.

Foster said Social Security has been the “third rail of politics” for generations, later adding that “the attacks have been attempted.” He said his mother worked for U.S. Sen. Paul Douglas from Illinois, who served from 1949 to 1967, and back then, Social Security was under attack.

Foster said more recent proposals include privatizing Social Security. He challenged the narrative that the government is going bankrupt, noting that the national debt is $30 trillion but household net worth is about $170 trillion.

“We have the ability to pay off our debt in full, and there is no need to cut Medicare, Social Security and everything that Republicans continue to do,” Foster said, adding that “we simply need the political will” to make those with more wealth pay their fair share.

Some attendees were concerned with what they felt was an erosion of due process. When Foster was asked about it, the audience clapped. Foster said the “value of the court system” is that “everybody gets their day in court. That is a fundamental American principle.”

He said in part that you can’t “send people to offshore prisons. Period. Full stop.”

That got some pushback from the audience. Foster said earlier in the town hall meeting that the Constitution doesn’t provide many protections to noncitizens, which also got a little pushback.

Foster was speaking in the northern part of his 11th Congressional District that stretches into McHenry County, the only collar county that’s predominantly red after decades of Republican political dominance in the Chicago suburbs.

In McHenry, all of the countywide officeholders are Republican, and the party enjoys a 15-3 supermajority on the County Board. The portion of the county that Foster represents went for his GOP opponent, Jerry Evans, in the 2024 election, in which Trump performed even better than in 2020.

Foster noted that he spent three years representing Dixon, Ronald Reagan’s hometown. While rural America has strongly supported Trump, Foster contends that Democrats can make advances in rural parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa by showing that it’s the party for farmers.

Trump is in the process of “making life hell for farmers,” Foster asserted. He also said that if Medicaid cuts go through, “you’re going to have rural hospitals dropping like flies.”

After the town hall, members of Foster’s staff said people in McHenry County have been concerned about the cost of living and housing costs, among other things.

Foster, who has been representing large portions of McHenry County since redistricting after the 2020 census, was introduced by Crystal Lake Mayor Haig Haleblian.

Haleblian said Foster has been good to Crystal Lake, adding that the congressman is a “very reasonable individual” and is willing to sit and talk. He said he was “really impressed” with Foster.