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Audio Feature: This week in News for Rep. John Faso 20180731
Jul 27, 2018 10:45 am
Here's the week in the news for Rep. John Faso (R-Kinderhook), the District 19 Congressperson for the WGXC listening area. The Fivethirtyeight.com website currently reports Faso votes with Donald Trump's positions 90.0 percent of the time, up from 89.7 percent last week. Click here to download or play an audio version of this report (14:00).
• Congress did not do much this week that wasn't more symbolic than real. Rep. John Faso voted with a Republican majority July 19, 229-180 against a theoretical carbon tax. Or said another way, Faso voted to express, "the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy." On July 18, Faso also voted with a Republican majority on another show vote to support, "the officers and personnel who carry out the important mission of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement." That passed 244-35, with 133 Democrats voting "present."
• Richard Moody is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media elected officials from both major parties are calling President Donald Trump to end tariffs on Canadian paper commonly used in newsprint, calling the policy an attack on the newspaper industry. “Community-oriented newspapers have long been the lifeblood of small towns and cities across upstate New York,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer wrote in an op-ed piece July 23. “In this brutally competitive media landscape, our community papers already operate on razor-thin margins..." Schumer warned that the U.S. Commerce Department's proposed permanent tariff on the specialty paper would have "massive negative impacts across the whole American newsprint industry and its local supply chain.” U.S. Rep. John Faso, Republican of Kinderhook, said, “People across the United States depend on smaller local newspapers to know what is going on in their communities. These tariffs threaten the financial viability of smaller newspapers, which already operate on very thin margins by raising the cost of newsprint. Congress should overturn the newsprint tariff, if President Trump fails to reverse course on this unreasonable action.” The U.S. International Trade Commission heard testimony from various lawmakers opposed to the proposal, July 17. The commission will vote on imposing permanent duties on groundwood paper Aug. 28. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.
• After the July 18 New York Times editorial "John Faso Is Race-Baiting His Opponent," the Kinderhook-based first-term Republican Congressperson responded with a letter to the editor. In the July 20 response, Faso says it was unfair for the Times to write that Faso's opponent, Antonio Delgado, is “unfit for office because he had a career as a rapper” because "I never said that. I did say that he is obligated to explain what he meant by the songs he wrote, which denigrated our nation and the free enterprise system, and often glorified pornography and drug use," Faso wrote. The Times editorial says Faso is counting on constituents in New York’s 19th Congressional District to be bigots because of several recent statements, not just the attacks on Delgado's over-a-decade-old hip hop album. Faso favors stricter standards for food stamp recipients, because, he said, “virtually every drug dealer they arrest has got a food stamp card in his pocket” and he is also running advertisements promising to “keep MS-13 out of New York,” with photos of ominous-looking, tattooed Latino men. "Faso seems to feel more comfortable exploiting painful racial divisions than talking about his votes in Congress," the Times editorial said. "Delgado also uses many phrases derogatory to women and law enforcement. One can only imagine what your editorial board would say about me had I uttered the same words as my opponent has," Faso wrote in the letter to the editor. "The best you can say for John is that's he's becoming a fellow traveler in modern racial and cultural divisiveness," said Richard Brodsky, a former state Assemblymember, said in the Albany Times Union.
• U.S. Rep. John Faso (R-Kinderhook) spoke by telephone from his Washington D.C. office with constituents, both Tue., July 24, and Wed., July 25. Faso took questions submitted online or by telephone concerning a variety of topics including the status of Medicare and Medicaid; concerns over the Mueller probe; tariffs and their impact on farmers; health care; Social Security; gun control; climate solutions and carbon emissions; veterans' affairs; the extreme partisan divide in the district; government waste and abuse; and milk prices. Click here to download or play the July 24 audio, recorded by Lynn Sloneker.
• On July 25, Faso voted with mostly Republicans, 242-176, to pass the "Increasing Access to Lower Premium Plans and Expanding Health Savings Accounts Act of 2018." The bill, if it passes the Senate and is signed into law by the president, would delay the Affordable Health Care Act's health insurance tax for two years and expand the Health Savings Accounts. On July 24 Faso voted with Republicans and 57 Democrats to pass the "Protect Medical Innovation Act," which would repeal the medical device tax. The repeal of the 2.3 percent tax on some devices sold by medical manufacturers was also another repeal of part of the Affordable Care Act, and this tax would not have gone into effect until 2020. But the two bills, if signed into law, would cost taxpayers $90 billion over 10 years, The Hill reports, and the legislation does not suggest how the government will cover those costs.
• The Daily Freeman reports that the post office at 111 Market St. in the village of Saugerties willl be named for late U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, as President Donald Trump signed the bill into law. U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, and U.S. Rep. John Faso, (R-Kinderhook) co-sponsored the measure with U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Democrat from western New York who died this past March, and announced the signing July 26. “Naming Congressman Hinchey’s hometown post office after him is an enduring recognition of his lifelong commitment to public service and the people of Upstate New York,” said Faso. “I am glad that after months of work from New York delegation members in both chambers of Congress and on both sides of the aisle that this bill has been signed into law.” Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.
• Congress did not do much this week that wasn't more symbolic than real. Rep. John Faso voted with a Republican majority July 19, 229-180 against a theoretical carbon tax. Or said another way, Faso voted to express, "the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy." On July 18, Faso also voted with a Republican majority on another show vote to support, "the officers and personnel who carry out the important mission of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement." That passed 244-35, with 133 Democrats voting "present."
• Richard Moody is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media elected officials from both major parties are calling President Donald Trump to end tariffs on Canadian paper commonly used in newsprint, calling the policy an attack on the newspaper industry. “Community-oriented newspapers have long been the lifeblood of small towns and cities across upstate New York,” Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer wrote in an op-ed piece July 23. “In this brutally competitive media landscape, our community papers already operate on razor-thin margins..." Schumer warned that the U.S. Commerce Department's proposed permanent tariff on the specialty paper would have "massive negative impacts across the whole American newsprint industry and its local supply chain.” U.S. Rep. John Faso, Republican of Kinderhook, said, “People across the United States depend on smaller local newspapers to know what is going on in their communities. These tariffs threaten the financial viability of smaller newspapers, which already operate on very thin margins by raising the cost of newsprint. Congress should overturn the newsprint tariff, if President Trump fails to reverse course on this unreasonable action.” The U.S. International Trade Commission heard testimony from various lawmakers opposed to the proposal, July 17. The commission will vote on imposing permanent duties on groundwood paper Aug. 28. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.
• After the July 18 New York Times editorial "John Faso Is Race-Baiting His Opponent," the Kinderhook-based first-term Republican Congressperson responded with a letter to the editor. In the July 20 response, Faso says it was unfair for the Times to write that Faso's opponent, Antonio Delgado, is “unfit for office because he had a career as a rapper” because "I never said that. I did say that he is obligated to explain what he meant by the songs he wrote, which denigrated our nation and the free enterprise system, and often glorified pornography and drug use," Faso wrote. The Times editorial says Faso is counting on constituents in New York’s 19th Congressional District to be bigots because of several recent statements, not just the attacks on Delgado's over-a-decade-old hip hop album. Faso favors stricter standards for food stamp recipients, because, he said, “virtually every drug dealer they arrest has got a food stamp card in his pocket” and he is also running advertisements promising to “keep MS-13 out of New York,” with photos of ominous-looking, tattooed Latino men. "Faso seems to feel more comfortable exploiting painful racial divisions than talking about his votes in Congress," the Times editorial said. "Delgado also uses many phrases derogatory to women and law enforcement. One can only imagine what your editorial board would say about me had I uttered the same words as my opponent has," Faso wrote in the letter to the editor. "The best you can say for John is that's he's becoming a fellow traveler in modern racial and cultural divisiveness," said Richard Brodsky, a former state Assemblymember, said in the Albany Times Union.
• U.S. Rep. John Faso (R-Kinderhook) spoke by telephone from his Washington D.C. office with constituents, both Tue., July 24, and Wed., July 25. Faso took questions submitted online or by telephone concerning a variety of topics including the status of Medicare and Medicaid; concerns over the Mueller probe; tariffs and their impact on farmers; health care; Social Security; gun control; climate solutions and carbon emissions; veterans' affairs; the extreme partisan divide in the district; government waste and abuse; and milk prices. Click here to download or play the July 24 audio, recorded by Lynn Sloneker.
• On July 25, Faso voted with mostly Republicans, 242-176, to pass the "Increasing Access to Lower Premium Plans and Expanding Health Savings Accounts Act of 2018." The bill, if it passes the Senate and is signed into law by the president, would delay the Affordable Health Care Act's health insurance tax for two years and expand the Health Savings Accounts. On July 24 Faso voted with Republicans and 57 Democrats to pass the "Protect Medical Innovation Act," which would repeal the medical device tax. The repeal of the 2.3 percent tax on some devices sold by medical manufacturers was also another repeal of part of the Affordable Care Act, and this tax would not have gone into effect until 2020. But the two bills, if signed into law, would cost taxpayers $90 billion over 10 years, The Hill reports, and the legislation does not suggest how the government will cover those costs.
• The Daily Freeman reports that the post office at 111 Market St. in the village of Saugerties willl be named for late U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, as President Donald Trump signed the bill into law. U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, and U.S. Rep. John Faso, (R-Kinderhook) co-sponsored the measure with U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Democrat from western New York who died this past March, and announced the signing July 26. “Naming Congressman Hinchey’s hometown post office after him is an enduring recognition of his lifelong commitment to public service and the people of Upstate New York,” said Faso. “I am glad that after months of work from New York delegation members in both chambers of Congress and on both sides of the aisle that this bill has been signed into law.” Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.