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Sen. Markey talks Walz-Vance debate, immigration, and Middle East war during Pittsfield appearance

Senator Ed Markey, flanked by aides, on North Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on October 3rd, 2024.
Josh Landes
/
WAMC
Senator Ed Markey, flanked by aides, on North Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on October 3rd, 2024.

Senator Ed Markey was in Berkshire County this week, and discussed some of the week’s biggest headlines during his stop in Pittsfield, Massachusetts with WAMC.

Markey met with local elected officials and economic leaders at appearances in North Adams, Pittsfield, and Great Barrington on Thursday. He spoke with WAMC on North Street in Pittsfield after a roundtable meeting at Dottie’s Coffee Lounge.

“I think that Pittsfield is alive with the sound of economic activity, with a plan that the mayor and all the community leaders are putting together for this city, more housing, better transportation, ensuring that there is a long-term vision for what Pittsfield can have so that it is better than any preceding century," said Markey. "And I just felt very invigorated, excited by the vision.”

The senator offered his take on Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate between fellow Democrat Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Republican Senator JD Vance.

“I think they each made the case for their principles very well, but at the same time, Donald Trump has major flaws in his vision, because he wants to defund all of the climate funding that the federal government is sending to the Berkshires," Markey told WAMC. "What just happened in North Carolina with Asheville could easily happen in the Berkshires or any other part of Massachusetts. We need that funding. What Trump is saying is that for $1 billion that the natural gas industry would raise, he'd take away all the wind and solar, all electric vehicle battery storage funding, all of the other individual programs that are going to be so valuable out here in the Berkshires to deal with climate change. So, I just think that there's a powerful message in the final four weeks that we can be making that will get out our vote and have Kamala Harris as the next president.”

During the debate, Walz continued to stress the Democratic Party’s move to the right on immigration by praising a bipartisan bill that would have funded former President Donald Trump’s southern border wall. Brokered in part by Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, the bill was scuttled early this year when Trump came out against it. Markey echoed Walz by praising another of the bill’s authors, the hard-line conservative Republican James Lankford of Oklahoma.

“We need more funding to process migrants, we need asylum seekers at our border to be dealt with quickly, but we also need a comprehensive pathway to citizenship in our country," said the senator. "And sadly, Donald Trump told his Republicans in the House and Senate just four months ago to walk away from a Republican-negotiated solution to most of the problems along our border, and notwithstanding the fact that Republican senator Lankford from Oklahoma was the chief negotiator, what Donald Trump said, pretty much, is he'd rather have the issue for the election than the solution to the problem that passes the Congress. So, we know that Kamala Harris made it very clear she would have signed that bill, and that would have dealt with a large part of all the issues that this immigration crisis it has been posing for our country.”

WAMC asked Markey for his take on escalating violence in the Middle East as the long-simmering regional rivalry between Israel and Iran breaks out into open conflict following Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza and invasion of Lebanon.

“Well, of course, Iran's ballistic missile attack upon Israel is condemnable and absolutely an escalation of violence that the Middle East does not need," he answered. "I hope that we can find a diplomatic resolution of this conflict so that they we don't see further innocent lives that are lost across the Middle East.”

The most recent official death toll for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza stands at almost 42,000, though a study by medical journal the Lancet suggests the actual tally could be five times higher. Hundreds have died in Lebanon since Israel began its bombing campaign there, including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a targeted killing.

Markey was previously in Pittsfield for a July 27th fundraiser for Vice President Harris.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
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