Campaign

O’Rourke says every member of his Cabinet would hold monthly town halls

by Michael Burke - 04/01/19 3:21 PM ET

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (Texas), one of many Democrats seeking the party’s 2020 presidential nomination, said Monday that every Cabinet secretary in his administration would be required to hold monthly town hall meetings.

O’Rourke said the town halls, which he would mandate via executive order, would be held “not just to answer questions but to be held accountable,” according to the Daily Beast.

{mosads}“Those Cabinet secretaries for those agencies and departments will be before you, not a hand-picked audience, not a theatrical production but a real life town hall meeting, not just to answer questions but to be held accountable,” he said at the “We the People” summit in Washington, D.C.

O’Rourke added in a statement Monday that requiring the town halls would help counter “extraordinary concentration of power and access.”

“At a time when we face an extraordinary concentration of power and access, when our government does too little for too few, we must ensure that the people of this country can hold their government to account for the decisions it makes in their name,” he said, according to the Washington Examiner.

“It is only by listening to those we are sworn to serve and represent — by gaining the full benefit of their ideas, their experiences, their creativity — that we can come together to confront and overcome the very real challenges before us,” O’Rourke added.

Tags Beto O'Rourke