CONGRESSMAN’s 1st DAY IN D.C.
Delgado ‘Will Work
Hard With Anyone’
To Stop Shutdown
He Reviews Top Issues With Press
By JENNIFER HILL • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
Otsego County’s new congressman, Antonio Delgado, D-19, began work in Washington D.C. today, but many of his fellow federal workers weren’t on the job.
“It is incredibly irresponsible to find us in this position,” Delgado said in a conference call this morning with reporters from 19th District news outlets. “We do right by the people when we keep the government open for the people.”
He pledged to “work hard with anyone” to pass a spending bill that will re-open the government.
The government shutdown began December when Democrats wouldn’t agree to support $5.7 billion in funding for a border wall with Mexico.
The new congressman also addressed the issues of:
BROADBAND: The broadband industry is “motivated by profit,” so government must fund broadband installation in places where profit may not be gained and “generate real economic growth.”
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS: He hasn’t been assigned any year, but “I want to be on the Agricultural and Infrastructure Committees,” he said, “to represent farmers” and upgrade infrastructure, not just broadband, but crumbling roads and bridges.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Calling a “crisis of utmost importance,” he said the House Select Committee on Climate Crisis will be helpful in accounting the real costs of fossil fuel. He supports hifting tax credits away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources and to “properly support the EPA.”