New York’s Hudson Valley is slowly reopening.
In today’s Congressional Corner, New York representative Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from the 18th district, continues his conversation with WAMC’s Alan Chartock.
This conversation was recorded June 9th.
Alan Chartock: Sean Patrick Maloney Let's start with the coronavirus. Last time we talked a little bit more politics. You know, there are many people who feel that the president of the United States could have been quicker, and as a result, many lives could have been saved. But you know, this is the Congressional Corner. So I wonder if you would talk to us about what you've seen with the coronavirus and the 18th district.
Representative Sean Patrick Maloney: Well, we're coming out of the woods and that's good. As we're speaking today's the first day of what we call phase two, which is when hopefully we can all stop looking like our mom cut our hair in the kitchen and local businesses can start reopening because they are really hurting. I'm cautiously optimistic that when I talk to people in the construction industry, when I talk to people in the real estate industry, they seem to be doing okay. You know, obviously restaurants, small businesses are just now getting off their knees after a really tough stretch. We know that the actions taken by the Congress have been very important and people need to realize we have reformed the Paycheck Protection Program. People now have 24 weeks for expenses to be forgiven instead of eight. We've increased the amount that can be used for non-payroll expenses from 25 to 40%. So if you're a restaurant, you can pay your mortgage or utilities. That's important. We've increased the loan terms from two to five years. But we've extended the program so that you can participate in it through the end of the year. Before it was going to end on June 30. There's also full access to payroll tax deferment. I mean, there's a lot of good things in the Paycheck Protection Program, and bear in mind, almost 300,000 small businesses in New York State have received a PPP loan totaling about $37 billion, just as of June 6. There's another 80,000 more small businesses in New York who've received an economic injury disaster loan. Those are the direct loans from SBA, there's total about 6 billion. So you're looking at $43 billion in forgivable assistance, mostly to small businesses in New York, in addition to the expanded unemployment benefits, in addition to the direct payments, that has been the lifeline, that I think is behind some of the encouraging economic news we've seen, suggesting we may be turning the corner both on the public health emergency and on the economic emergency. So I think there's some light at the end of the tunnel here.
Now, President Trump and his attorney general Mr. Barr talk about a military response to some of the demonstrations and the need to, quote dominate the protesters. What about that?
Well, I don't think I can say it better than, you know, Secretary Jim Mattis, the former Marine General, I don't think I can say it better than Colin Powell. I don’t think I’m gonna set it say it better than Admiral Mike Mullen. I mean, these are our nation's finest military officers. William McRaven, the man who led the raid on Osama bin Laden. I mean, you've heard the top professional decorated military officers of the last generation uniformly say what the president did was dangerous and a threat to the Constitution. And those guys don't speak up about just anything. They don't weigh in ever. And so I think what you saw was a president who was once again acting in a reckless, dangerous fashion. And we can do a lot better. There is no reason why Americans can't exercise their first amendment peaceful right to protest. And to clear that square the way they did so he could have that bizarre photo op holding a Bible like he had never seen it before, I just think is outrageous. And so I can't say it better than our country's finest military officers have already have already said it.
Well, you're certainly correct in my estimation, about that. And yet he continues, he goes on. He doesn't stop. It just gets more outrageous every day. Is that a matter of character on the part of the president?
I, you know, I've long stop trying to understand the president. I just watch what he does and I want him to be held accountable for it. And I think everybody has concerns about it, even if you even if you thought he was doing some good things, even if he thought that we needed a change, or you didn't like Hillary Clinton, or you wanted to give him a shot, I think there's a lot of people out there who need to look carefully at what he's doing to our country and ask yourself, can we do better than this? I mean, couldn't we have had a national testing system, like every other country on earth that got a handle on the pandemic instead of leading the world by a huge margin in deaths and suffering? And we still don't have our act together on that at the federal level. Couldn't we have done better than that? Can we be doing better on trying to unite the country when we see the killing of a man like George Floyd when almost everybody from the police to the protesters agree that was egregious. Why isn't the president leading us in a unifying set of reforms that we can all agree on? Can't we do better? And so I don't know whether it's his character, I don't know whether if it's what he for breakfast, I don't care anymore, Alan. What I want is what I want something better for the people I represent, both in terms of this pandemic, in terms of the economy, in terms of the moral leadership of the country. And I believe we can do better and everyone has to care about that and participate this year. This is the year everyone needs to get involved.
I want to remind everybody, you’re listening to Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, of the 18th district. Let me let me ask you this. I know that you’re trying to pass a bill, the new Invest in America Act through the Senate, includes your bill on falling bridges. Every time I go over a bridge, and I do a lot, I look down and I say uh oh. What do you make of it?
Well, well, that is exactly what I wrote the bill and it is going to be a $28 billion with a B, set of funds dedicated to exactly what you're talking about. These small county level bridges, the things that have been let go for far too long. The ones everybody knows. They're in every community. New York, by the way, has as many of these as anybody, including the Hudson Valley, more in most cases, and that is going to be part of a massive infrastructure bill that we are passing out of the committee I’m on, transportation and infrastructure, in the next few weeks. And it will do so much more. It will invest in our roads and bridges, yes. It will invest projects like the Gateway Tunnel, which is so important to our region, New York. It will it will do things like invest in broadband access, which we've seen is so important for rural communities. During the pandemic, you just couldn't function without high speed internet access. And so we know we need that, but it'll do more. It will invest in our airports, in our ports, in our in our railroad systems, and we need to invest in our country again, and I wish the president would join us in a bipartisan effort to invest in America. We're going to be doing that in the next few weeks.
So my wife cuts my hair and she does it extremely well. And, you know, I've sort of now we've all been learning stuff as we've been kept in our homes and we can't go out. Have you learned anything?
I've learned a lot of things before I answer that question. Just on the last question. I should have also included we are going to pass a permanent ban on oil barge anchorages on the Hudson River between Kingston and Yonkers. That's my legislation. It's my committee that I chair, the marine transportation subcommittee. So very proud of that and it's very important to our region. On your wife, cutting your hair, you know, I hope she does a good job. Alan, you are on the radio though. So you have an advantage on those of us who have to be on TV from time to time. Luckily I don't have a lot of hair left so my 17 year old has been cutting it. She does a pretty good job. And I've learned a lot about how much I've been missing when I'm running around doing my job in Congress. I've been grateful for the extra time with my kids to reconnect, to have dinner together. I think there's a lot of people out there who maybe understand that. I've learned how important teachers are, and how difficult their job is, and how we need to support them. Because God bless them what they've been doing. I've learned how important health care workers are. I've learned how important you know all these essential workers are who kept working everyday through the pandemic, and somehow they're the least paid people in our country. How is that the case that the people who are deemed essential somehow are the people we compensate the least, so the guy picking up your trash, the person working at the checkout counter at the supermarket, I mean, all of those folks are literally the difference between all of us being able to keep going, even sheltering at home and having a real crisis. So I think I have a new appreciation for all those folks. And finally, I would say I have a sense of how vulnerable we are and how petty and small some of the disagreements we have truly are, particularly in politics. And if the pandemic allows us to unite around our common vulnerability and humanity to grieve together the hundred thousand neighbors we've lost too soon, then I think maybe some good can come out of this. And I've learned to focus on the things that are bigger than the small fights we have.
We're talking to Sean Patrick Maloney from New York's beautiful 18th congressional district. Sean, thank you so much. And when you come back the next time, I got a lot more for you.
Thanks.
