Congressman Paul Tonko says the House of Representatives will be busy when it returns from the August recess.
Speaking in his Albany office Tuesday, Tonko drew a contrast between how Democrats ran the House when they had the majority with how Republicans are running things since winning back the speaker’s gavel in November.
"As we passed one budget bill, out of 12, and they need, as you know, to be done by the end of September, with the budget year coming fast to a close, we all have precious few work days by which to get that work done," Tonko said. "I think it's in the single digits in terms of work days. That means a lot of rush to get these things done. I'm hearing in order to get the veterans bill passed, there were commitments made to further reduce the contribution to the ceiling level of these of these budget bills, which is not the fair and effective way to deal with the country's needs."
Tonko says Republicans have a lackluster track record this Congress and says their agenda seeks to cut funding for veterans’ benefits, restricts access to healthcare, and attacks the LGBTQIA community.
He bemoaned the fact that very few Republicans voted for the PACT Act, which expands VA health care and benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances.
"Suffice it to say with this measure, we're reducing the impact of the veterans bill by billions of dollars in the MILCON bill, the military construction budget, that means that situations like PFAs will not be addressed," Tonko said.
Tonko says about a dozen people, the Freedom Caucus, effectively control the House after Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s protracted election, making negotiations difficult. He expects there will be "an even more painful outcome for issues like education and transportation, and infrastructure and economic recovery."
"It's a difficult and trying moment," said Tonko. "And we need to inform the public that they need to be outspoken in their advocacy for the sorts of investments we need to continue good programs."
With the budget battle heating up, Tonko says "no one wins" if it comes down to a government showdown.
"We have a responsibility to make certain that government is funding, that the programs are operating, and that life doesn't stop on September 30. This is an irresponsible notion to even consider shutting down the government," Tonko said. "But the behavior is very difficult, it's very much easily predicted that they could take that for granted, and move forward, and not care about the importance of finalizing a budget so that we can move forward and avoid a shutdown. But I hope that is not the case. Because no one wins."
Tonko finds the Beltway focus on a potential 2024 Biden-Trump rematch "tedious and troublesome."
"Because when you think of all the things we need to do, the climate crisis, if we haven't, our eyes haven't been opened by the extreme weather, the fires, wildfires, the flooding, downpour of rain, the extreme heat, then I don't know what convinces us," Tonko said. "But that's not the only issue. It's a drip. Continuing the progress made on inflation, avoiding the inflation reducing the impact of inflation, work opportunities, the investment in innovation, clean energy, precision economy, work that needs to be done, rather than this constant everyday politic situation where people are attacking individuals on a personality basis, rather than going to work and doing the people's business."
Tonko also reflected on his personal accomplishments during the last Congress.
"Investing in the CHIPS and Science Bill for this area is really going to make us really, really strong. And the Infrastructure Bill and the Energy Bill be the epicenter, the go-to area of the country for the Eastern Seaboard for offshore wind is incredible. But when it comes to like a personal surge there, I would cite also the medication assisted treatment that will take a situation today that is responding to our crisis of opioid addiction, with 135,000 people across this country that can prescribe medically to the people living with the illness of addiction and raising that number with my bill to $1.83 billion. That's a huge amount of life saved and a huge amount of hope. And we need to respond to this illness of despair with hope," said Tonko.
Tonko is in his eighth term in New York’s 20th district.
