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Audio Feature: This week in news for Rep. John Faso
Feb 03, 2018 11:43 am
Here's the week in the news for Rep. John Faso (R-Kinderhook), the District 19 Congressperson for the WGXC listening area. Faso returned to Washington D.C. this week where Fivethirtyeight.com currently reports Faso votes with Donald Trump's positions 86.2 percent of his votes, up slightly from last week. Click here to download or play an audio version of this report (10:43).
• Click here to download or listen to Kevin Freeman from Saugerties tells how a staff member of Rep. John Faso called police on eight protesters at Faso's Kingston office Jan. 26. A Faso spokesperson said, "“Property management does not allow signs or demonstrations in their building and after requests made to remove the signs were ignored, authorities were notified to help prevent any potential disruptions to other tenants in the building. The office welcomes correspondence from all constituents and has worked with the weekly demonstrators that gather outside of the Kingston office every Friday to ensure they have the opportunity to make their voices heard every week, while also respecting the building owner’s rules."
• Chris McKenna reports in the Times Herald-Record that Rep. John Faso is "fine," according to his spokesperson after an Amtrak train taking Republican House members to a caucus retreat in West Virginia hit a trash truck Jan. 31. “I think everyone on the train is OK,” Faso, a Republican from Kinderhook, told CNN shortly after the accident. “I don’t know that for sure; it’s a long train. But most of the concern is for the people outside.” There were minor injuries among those on the train. On the trash truck, one person died, and two had more severe injuries. The train partially derailed when it hit the trash truck south of Charlottesville, Virginia. The train was headed to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia for a three-day issues retreat where President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were planning to make appearances. Read the full story in the Times Herald-Record.
• Ariél Zangla reports for The Daily Freeman that Rep. John Faso liked President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address Jan. 30. “President Trump delivered a unifying address which proposed ideas and initiatives the nation can rally around,” Faso said in a prepared statement. “I am encouraged that the administration is planning to aggressively invest in needed transportation and broadband infrastructure along with plans to significantly improve the state of our military readiness.” Five of the six Democrats seeking their party’s nomination to unseat Faso in the November election disagreed. “We heard 80 minutes of empty promises, misleading statistics, and divisive rhetoric from President Trump,” said Patrick Ryan of Gardiner. “And Rep. John Faso, as usual, was a faithful member of his cheering section. ... All of us here in NY-19 deserve a leader who will actually stand up and fight for us, rather than an empty suit who will rubber stamp his party’s harmful agenda and sell us out to protect the interests of a few wealthy donors.” Democrat Gareth Rhodes of Kerhonkson said, “Rep. Faso, who has voted more than 85 percent of the time with Trump, needs to stand up and show a spine against the hateful rhetoric and harmful policies coming out of Washington that is hurting working people in NY-19.” Brian Flynn of Elka Park said that while Trump talked about jobs, “it is unfortunate that he also doubled down on the policies and rhetoric of division. Equating immigrants with criminals and terrorists and bragging about systematically dismantling the Affordable Care Act are not ways to bring our country together.” David Clegg of Woodstock, said the president had “nothing but hollow words on health care.... Without a plan, he claims he will bring drug prices down even as Republicans have undermined the Affordable Care Act by repealing the individual mandate.” Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck said Trump “talks about the American Dream but has done nothing to further it. He’s worked to take away health care, remove protections for ‘dreamers’ and pass a tax plan that benefits the rich. We deserve real leaders who fight for working and middle-class folks.” Jeffrey Beals of Woodstock did not release a statement immediately after the president’s address. Read the full story in The Daily Freeman.
• Chris McKenna reports at The Fray that New York's 133-year-old Scaffold Law cleared the U.S. House of Representatives House Judiciary Committee Jan. 30 16-14 on party lines. The bill, put forth by Rep. John Faso (R-Kinderhook), would ban federal funding to construction projects that use New York’s “absolute liability” standard for workplace injuries caused by falls. Faso’s “Infrastructure Expansion Act” takes lawmaking out of the hands of New York legislators and next sends it to the House floor for a vote. So far, no Senator has stepped up to sponsor the bill, so it may stall there. The New York law was passed in the 1880s, when the first skyscraper buildings were going up in New York City, and required employers to ensure their workers’ safety from gravity-related falls. Contractors and business groups say it increases costs at construction costs by making employers liable if they fail to provide a safe work environment. Republican Ted Poe of Texas, said during debate on the measure, “This is not our issue.... It’s a state issue. I don’t think Congress ought to be involved in this at all.” Faso disagreed, writing to the committee that, “New York’s Scaffold Law is a regulation for the sake of regulation.... It provides no measurable safety improvements and costs our state dearly.” Read the full story in The Fray.
• Click here to download or listen to Kevin Freeman from Saugerties tells how a staff member of Rep. John Faso called police on eight protesters at Faso's Kingston office Jan. 26. A Faso spokesperson said, "“Property management does not allow signs or demonstrations in their building and after requests made to remove the signs were ignored, authorities were notified to help prevent any potential disruptions to other tenants in the building. The office welcomes correspondence from all constituents and has worked with the weekly demonstrators that gather outside of the Kingston office every Friday to ensure they have the opportunity to make their voices heard every week, while also respecting the building owner’s rules."
• Chris McKenna reports in the Times Herald-Record that Rep. John Faso is "fine," according to his spokesperson after an Amtrak train taking Republican House members to a caucus retreat in West Virginia hit a trash truck Jan. 31. “I think everyone on the train is OK,” Faso, a Republican from Kinderhook, told CNN shortly after the accident. “I don’t know that for sure; it’s a long train. But most of the concern is for the people outside.” There were minor injuries among those on the train. On the trash truck, one person died, and two had more severe injuries. The train partially derailed when it hit the trash truck south of Charlottesville, Virginia. The train was headed to the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia for a three-day issues retreat where President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were planning to make appearances. Read the full story in the Times Herald-Record.
• Ariél Zangla reports for The Daily Freeman that Rep. John Faso liked President Donald Trump's first State of the Union address Jan. 30. “President Trump delivered a unifying address which proposed ideas and initiatives the nation can rally around,” Faso said in a prepared statement. “I am encouraged that the administration is planning to aggressively invest in needed transportation and broadband infrastructure along with plans to significantly improve the state of our military readiness.” Five of the six Democrats seeking their party’s nomination to unseat Faso in the November election disagreed. “We heard 80 minutes of empty promises, misleading statistics, and divisive rhetoric from President Trump,” said Patrick Ryan of Gardiner. “And Rep. John Faso, as usual, was a faithful member of his cheering section. ... All of us here in NY-19 deserve a leader who will actually stand up and fight for us, rather than an empty suit who will rubber stamp his party’s harmful agenda and sell us out to protect the interests of a few wealthy donors.” Democrat Gareth Rhodes of Kerhonkson said, “Rep. Faso, who has voted more than 85 percent of the time with Trump, needs to stand up and show a spine against the hateful rhetoric and harmful policies coming out of Washington that is hurting working people in NY-19.” Brian Flynn of Elka Park said that while Trump talked about jobs, “it is unfortunate that he also doubled down on the policies and rhetoric of division. Equating immigrants with criminals and terrorists and bragging about systematically dismantling the Affordable Care Act are not ways to bring our country together.” David Clegg of Woodstock, said the president had “nothing but hollow words on health care.... Without a plan, he claims he will bring drug prices down even as Republicans have undermined the Affordable Care Act by repealing the individual mandate.” Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck said Trump “talks about the American Dream but has done nothing to further it. He’s worked to take away health care, remove protections for ‘dreamers’ and pass a tax plan that benefits the rich. We deserve real leaders who fight for working and middle-class folks.” Jeffrey Beals of Woodstock did not release a statement immediately after the president’s address. Read the full story in The Daily Freeman.
• Chris McKenna reports at The Fray that New York's 133-year-old Scaffold Law cleared the U.S. House of Representatives House Judiciary Committee Jan. 30 16-14 on party lines. The bill, put forth by Rep. John Faso (R-Kinderhook), would ban federal funding to construction projects that use New York’s “absolute liability” standard for workplace injuries caused by falls. Faso’s “Infrastructure Expansion Act” takes lawmaking out of the hands of New York legislators and next sends it to the House floor for a vote. So far, no Senator has stepped up to sponsor the bill, so it may stall there. The New York law was passed in the 1880s, when the first skyscraper buildings were going up in New York City, and required employers to ensure their workers’ safety from gravity-related falls. Contractors and business groups say it increases costs at construction costs by making employers liable if they fail to provide a safe work environment. Republican Ted Poe of Texas, said during debate on the measure, “This is not our issue.... It’s a state issue. I don’t think Congress ought to be involved in this at all.” Faso disagreed, writing to the committee that, “New York’s Scaffold Law is a regulation for the sake of regulation.... It provides no measurable safety improvements and costs our state dearly.” Read the full story in The Fray.