New York Congresswoman Nita Lowey held a roundtable discussion Monday on gun violence. She says she will be thinking about all the input and what can be done in the House. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Allison Dunne spoke with the chair of the House Appropriations Committee about this and more.
Democratic Congresswoman Lowey, of the 17th District, held the gun violence roundtable in Elmsford, Westchester County, following mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, and the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.
She refers to the University of Texas at Austin. Lowey is a member of the Congressional Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. This week, Lowey and more than 200 Democratic House colleagues sent a letter to Republican Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling on him to bring the Senate back into session and pass the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 and the Enhanced Background Checks Act. Lowey also cosponsors several other gun violence prevention bills including the Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act, which would require federally licensed ammunition dealers to confirm the identity of individuals who arrange to purchase ammunition over the internet by verifying a photo I.D. in-person.
Meantime, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said last week that formal impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump were under way.
Before this, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before the U.S. House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, testimony that propelled a number of House Democrats to switch their stances and support an impeachment inquiry, Lowey among them.
Congresswoman Nita Lowey’s 17th District includes all of Rockland County and part of Westchester County.