Sen. Ted Cruz met with some opposition at town hall in North Austin

Senator Ted Cruz was in Austin for a stop on his statewide town hall tour with the focus on issues affecting veterans, but he was met with some opposition inside and outside the event that was held at the Renaissance hotel in North Austin.

Senator Cruz was met with cheers as he took the stage at his “Defend and Reform” downhill state tour.

The event was hosted by veteran’s advocacy group “Concerned Veterans for America" and made stops across the state including Dallas and San Antonio.

Many in the audience were veterans, including Dick Starie who served in the Air Force for 14 years.

“I want to get the senator to take a hard look at the compensation that veterans are getting.”

He said while he is doing okay at 77 year old supplementing his income by substitute teaching he’s more concerned about his fellow brothers and sisters.

“We’ve got over a thousand veterans on the street here in Austin, Texas. Veterans on the street with no place to live whatsoever, and to me that’s absolutely inexcusable,” he said.

But the hundred or so in the audience didn’t want to talk much about issues impacting veterans.

Right after the first question those with a different agenda began speaking out about civilian healthcare.

Those inside and outside protesting had a variety of complaints, but most were directed at Cruz’s idea of how to overhaul Obamacare. Lindsey Zischkele was one of those protesting outside, and is concerned about cuts to medicaid, “We will lose services and that will put people back in institutions so I want to ask him how he can support that when it’s exponentially more expensive to serve a person in an institution than a community,” she said.

Senator Cruz responded to those inside “I think it’s critical as republicans to honor our promise to repeal Obamacare. I think the central focus has to be on reducing premiums, on making health insurance more affordable.”

Healthcare or the VA, organizers of the event sad the two are seeming to have a lot of parallels from lacking competition, choice, and accountability. “What has happened within the VA is kind of a warning to what can happen to the civilian healthcare system if there’s too much government control,” said Dan Caldwell with Concerned Veterans for America.