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WGXC Congressional Report: 20190930

Sep 30, 2019 12:02 am
This is WGXC's Congressional Report, tracking the votes, words, and actions of Rep. Antonio Delgado, a Democrat from Rhinebeck representing the 19th Congressional District, and Paul Tonko, a Democrat from Amsterdam from the 20th Congressional District. The Fivethirtyeight.com website reports that, so far, the first-term Congressperson Delgado votes with Donald Trump's positions 4.3 percent of the time. Since Democrats took over the House of Representatives Tonko also votes with Trump's positions 2.1 percent of the time. In the previous Congressional session, Tonko voted with Trump 22.6 percent of the time. Click here to download or play an audio version of this report (3:51).

• On Sept. 24 Rep. Antonio Delgado backed impeaching the president for the first time. On Twitter he wrote, "The first responsibility of the President of the United States is to keep our country safe, but it has become clear that our president has placed his personal interests above the national security of our nation. I believe articles of impeachment are warranted." Delgado, a Democrat from Rhinebeck who represents the 19th Congressional District, joins Paul Tonko, a Democrat from Amsterdam who represents the 20th Congressional District, in favor of beginning impeachment proceedings in the U.S. House or Representatives. New reports say Donald Trump withheld money from Ukraine in order to get that country to investigate the son of a political rival of the president, Joe Biden. National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Michael McAdams responded to Delgado's announcement saying, “In a district President Trump won by more than six points, Antonio Delgado’s decision to pursue impeachment will be a political death sentence.” CNN currently reports at least 153 of the 235 Democrats in the House favor impeachment.

Geoffrey Wilson reports in the Poughkeepsie Journal that the Hudson Valley Democrats in Congress are now united in support of an impeachment inquiry of the president. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who represents the 18th District in the southern Hudson Valley, and Rep. Antonio Delgado, both announced Sept. 24 that they were joining Rep. Paul Tonko and 150 other Democrats supporting impeachment. Maloney said he is, "prepared to pursue an impeachment inquiry.... I have had a high bar for putting the country through an impeachment inquiry, especially so close to an election. But these allegations go to the heart of the oath I took. There comes a time to put your country first." Delgado and Maloney committed publicly to impeachment just hours before House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also called for an official impeachment inquiry. New York Democrat Rep. Joe Morelle, who represents Rochester, also joined the list of those backing impeachment, which grew to over 200 by the end of the day. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously Sept. 24 for a nonbinding resolution calling for the whistleblower complaint related to President Trump's communications with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to be released to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Trump admits to asking about Ukraine investigating the son of Democrat Joe Biden, and was reportedly threatening to withhold Senate-approved funding for the country. House Democrats are expected to vote to condemn the president's actions with Ukraine in a Sept. 25 vote. Read more about this story in the Poughkeepsie Journal.

• On Sept. 25, both Tonko and Delgado voted for the SAFE Banking Act, which passed 321-to-103. This bill aims to make it easier for banks to do business with the cannabis industry.

• On Sept. 27, both Delgado and Tonko voted with all Democrats, 11 Republicans, and one independent to end the National Emergency declared by the President on February 15 about the immigration issue.

• Paul Tonko does list any public events this week on his website. Antonio Delgado lists two future events on his website this week. At 6:30 p.m. Oct. 1, Delgado holds a town hall meeting at the Dutchess County Townhall, 1215 Centre Rd. in Rhinebeck. And he's bringing FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks for a "Congressional Field Hearing on Rural Broadband" at 1 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Columbia-Greene Community College Arts Center.