Big Guys Keep Little Guys

From Thriving, Delgado Says

By JENNIFER HILL  • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA – Coming off a week of “Town Halls,” with students, small-business owners and farmers,  U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado,  D-19, said in a teleconference press briefing this morning that while there were “critically important” national issues, most people in his district want to know “how do we improve the area.”

In discussing how to improve the area, Delgado often framed his responses in big corporations/industry/Washington insiders versus the little guy: i.e., his constituents. He cited a poll published yesterday in the Washington Post that found 60 percent of Americans feel that way.

Students, he said, are most concerned about “amassing high student debt,” with rising interest rates and reduced Pell Grants.

“We shouldn’t be treating young people’s desires to improve themselves to make a profit,” Delgado declared.

“As young people, they are at times frustrated by the lack of ability of D.C. people’s capacities to connect with and understand them,” he added.  “I show up at schools because I want them to have a voice through me.”

Other issues Delgado spoke about in the call were:

• Renewable energies: “They could be an economic engine driver and create growth and jobs with good wages … We need to stop providing so many tax credits and subsidies to the fossil fuel industry” and “create a more robust tax-incentivized structure to motivate actors to invest in renewable energy.”
• Investing in our infrastructure: “We need to stop corporate welfare and use that money to invest in education, work development programs, rural broadband, and public transportation between rural areas.”
• On the mass shooting at the synagogue in Poway, Calif.: “There is no doubt that hate is on the rise…and with the way we’re communicating, especially…from the highest seat in the land…that plus struggling with gun violence [creates] a combustible situation.”
• On the Mueller report: “The president and (his) campaign arm misled the public in terms of its understanding of how invested and involved the Russians were in meddling.
• On impeachment: “It should ideally be done and concluded with a bipartisan decision. I worry that it would not have the effect of it restoring trust in government … but it’s important to call in Mueller, Attorney General William Barr, and former White House Counsel Don McGahn in, to have public hearings.”