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Originally Published in Brownwood News on October 15, 2025.  

August Pfluger, U.S. Congressman for the 11th District of Texas, held a town hall meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce.

Pfluger shared his thoughts on the following topics:

Government Shutdown

“We’re at a point today where we’re in a government shutdown. That’s not uniting our country. I’m calling on colleagues on the other side of the aisle to put aside the petty differences, to rise above the fray. Of course we’re going to stand up for what we believe in, but when we have a chance to rise above it and do that right thing by our country, even if I get yelled at a little back home by my own constituency, we’re going to do the right thing.”

“I’m worried about the 1.3 million service members that we have, including Camp Bowie, including Goodfellow, that are now worried about whether they’re going to put food on the table rather than the mission and the threat and the things we need them in a uniform to be thinking about.”

“Over three weeks ago we voted to fund the government. This was a Biden budget, these were his numbers. We didn’t change anything, there we no conservative gimmicks in this. We kept it flat to fund the government. They said no many times, and this exact budget they voted on earlier this year.”

“How do we get out of this? We’re in a tough spot. But I’m holding firm. We’ve done our job, we’ll fund the government when Chuck Schumer decides to stop holding us hostage.”

Reasons for the Shutdown

“What I think is going on is, I have a list here of things that we’ve done. The President promised a few things. He said we’re going to secure the border and the border is secure today. You will no longer see people streaming in, surging in where you don’t know where they’re from, but we do know that some of them want the worst for this country and not the best.”

“We said that we were going to deliver on our economy and on tax cuts that were desperately needed. If we had not acted, what we did was avoid at least a 25 percent increase in everyone’s taxes. This is the biggest and most important tax package that has ever been passed in this country.”

“Republicans have been accused of forgetting healthcare, of not doing right by healthcare. Medicaid was designed for pregnant women, children, those with disabilities and the elderly. Texas has stood by that. But 43 other states decided that they would expand that definition, and that they would go with able body working age adults. So in places like New York City, New York state, California, you have working age adults who have been told to stay home. It’s taken away from people who deserve it here and we’re delivering less care right here. Oh, by the way, almost 2 million illegal immigrants, you wonder why you saw the buses of people, the illegal immigrants that were going to New York and California, you want to know why? Sanctuary cities are associated with sanctuary states that delivered benefits to illegals or healthcare benefits. So those people in Brown County that should be receiving top notch Medicaid services are being taken away by those who are here illegally. And that is a fact. So here’s what we did for the first time in history. We got together and we said, how do we make sure we preserve world healthcare? You’ve got to work 80 hours a month to receive those benefits. That seems like common sense to me. What we did was preserve the healthcare system for future generations. We did not touch Medicare, we focused on Medicaid and making sure that it was fair.”

“I can go down the list of things for what I think is going on, to include things like making sure that we preserve women’s sports for women and not biological males, to make sure that energy dominance is protected in places like Midland and Odessa and here. What I think’s going on is Chuck Schumer has a political problem. I think his political problem has a name, AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). And I think that she is breathing down his neck, and he’s giving in to the radical side. There are no blue dog Democrats anymore. They don’t exist. Those that are conservative for fiscal issues that believe in the second amendment, that are pro-life, there are no blue dog Democrats anymore. And that has had a drastic effect on the Democrat party, which I believe, has been hijacked by the radical side. The only way to stop that list, and there’s a lot more on that list, is to shut down the government.”

Middle East peace

“President Trump was over in the Middle East in Israel this week orchestrating the most historic peace deal, maybe in the history of the Middle East. And he’s the only leader that could have gone and done that. He’s the only person that could have brought all those nations together and stopped the killing. He said enough, let’s come together, put your arms down, disavow terrorism. He brought them together, and he did so because that’s the kind of leader, and those are the kind of issues that he’s dealing with.”

Assassination of Charlie Kirk

“Regardless where you may stand on what he said and what he stood for, I can promise you if someone who had a different political ideology than me was assassinated for the reasons they were professing or they were saying, you would see me voting in Washington, D.C. to affirm a resolution in their honor. I would do that because that’s what this flag stands for. And yet we have 50-something of my colleagues who decided not to vote in favor of that.”

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Pfluger also addressed the following concerns from those in attendance:

New World screwworm

“The New World screwworm is personal to us, whether it’s sheep and goats, or cattle, or horses, or the wildlife industry in Texas, it’s a real threat. I feel confident that the right steps are being taken, but I don’t feel confident in the timeline right now. And that’s what I talked to (U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins) about. This has got to be something that you speak on. We cannot let this slip. The timing of these sterile fly facilities, if you take 3 years, we’ve already lost. The FDA did approve last week some of the medication needs that we’ve been asking for so some of the livestock can take medication that at least have some protection for about 6 months at a time, which is a good thing, but we need a whole government approach.”

Rhetoric used now in politics

“I’m not going to take up for any particular leader and their messaging. Some of those I think are not helpful, even if factual. Taking the tone down, taking the temperature down is important for all of us. When you see me talk about people I talk about their policy and what they’re saying and not attack their character. I will talk in a respectful tone and fight the policy and not in a way that denigrates. The temperatures are high right now, but I think there’s a way to do that. Watch how I interact and if you disagree or have advice, I expect to hear from you.”

Concerns with people leaving the medical field

“It is very complicated. I’ve had to study this day in and day out, and the questions asked are the heart and soul of what we’re trying to figure out. This is a sad thing for us. When I say we’re fighting for rural healthcare, it’s that, it’s insurance, and it is getting to the root cause of the government incentivizing these things, premiums continuing to go up, and we know it’s a huge issue. So on pharmaceutical prices, we passed in the one big beautiful bill several pieces of important legislation that will cut those prices back down to fair market price. And guys, I’m sorry to tell you this, but this is a partisan statement. I have witnessed a lack of willingness on the other side of the aisle to attack many of these issues. There should not be, but there’s an ideological difference of how we administer healthcare and what’s paid for and what’s not. And the result of what we’re seeing by previous administrations is physicians leaving, nurses and texts leaving, people that just don’t want to do it anymore. But I am glad that people like AOC want to join and go after the insurance. I have picked on AOC all day, okay, so let me give you something that you’re not going to expect to hear out of my mouth. I’ve actually talked to AOC about sponsoring bipartisan legislation on the insurance problem that we have, because we both see the world the same way. I bet you didn’t expect to come to the town hall and hear that. We don’t have all the solutions, but we’re working very hard to get there.”

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Also during his stop, Pfluger recognized recently promoted Brownwood Police Chief James Fuller for his contributions in over 20 years of service to the community.

“I support our law enforcement to the fullest degree and I know the city of Brownwood supports our police department,” Pfluger said. “We have an incredible person that again has been doing much of this work for a long time. I wanted to say thank you and congratulations for being named the chief of police here. This is on behalf of 750,000 people who all support our law enforcement and the efforts to keep communities safe.”

Fuller commented, “I’ve very honored, I do thank you for this. I know people have entrusted the city of Brownwood to me for the safety of this community. Each and every day I worry about the community and I hope everyone understands that’s my job to take and I love it and I love Brownwood. I was born and raised here and I want to do the best I can to make sure Brownwood always feels like home.”