By Sarah Hall

Editor

If you’re worried about North Korea, you’re not alone: Rep. John Katko is worried, too.

Katko (R-Camillus), who represents the 24th Congressional District, said constituents are right to watch the situation in Asia, where the Communist nation is working toward developing a nuclear weapon, with trepidation.

“You’ve got basically what appears to be an unbalanced person with their potential finger on a nuclear weapon, or is working on a nuclear weapon and will [have one] in the not-too-distant-future,” Katko said. “That’s dangerous. That’s ultimate in dangerousness.”

However, Katko said he believes the U.S. response so far has been appropriate.

“I think it was very telling that President [Donald J.] Trump met with… the Chinese leader Xi Jinping, because I think that is going to be the key to trying to keep a lid on what’s going on in North Korea,” he said. “China is the only one that can get through to this dictator [Kim Jong Un] and try to talk some sense into him or exert the appropriate amount of pressure.”

Katko, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said it’s important to “project our strength” while working toward a peaceful solution. He said we need to take a similar path in Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad is suspected of unleashing a deadly chemical attack on unarmed civilians. In response, the Trump administration launched 59 Tomahawk missiles at Al Shayrat Airfield on April 7.

“Syria, unfortunately, become a rogue nation, and what happens when nations like that, you really have to deal with them from a position of strength,” Katko said. “And unfortunately, four years ago when Obama said, ‘There’s a line in the sand and you use chemical weapons against your people, you’re going to hear from us,’ then he didn’t do anything. And so, that kind of emboldened this guy a bit. So when he used chemical weapons again in violation of the agreement Obama entered into with Syria and Russia to basically disarm Syria of all chemical weapons, there had to be a response. I think the response was very measured. I think it was meant to send a message not really to damage, right? Just to send a message and project a little bit of strength and hopefully, hopefully, that will change the equation.”

Katko also said he didn’t see a constitutional issue with Trump calling for the strike without congressional approval.

“Now, mind you, if the president is contemplating additional actions or a series of additional actions with Syria, which is a state it’s not a terrorist organization like ISIS, I think that he would have to get government approval for that or congressional approval for that,” he said. “But I think in the modern presidential history, of these brief, tactical, message sending strikes do not warrant congressional approval.”

On climate change

Though his stance on Syria is similar to many his party, Katko breaks from the Republican line when it comes to climate change. In 2016, he signed on as a co-sponsor to the Gibson Resolution, a House resolution introduced by 19th District Rep. Christopher Gibson (R-Kinderhook) in September of 2015.

“It says basically that we as Republicans acknowledge man’s contribution to climate change and we need to keep that in mind and factor that into the equation going forward, and to work to provide a safe environment for our future generations…. So, we’re trying to lead by example by saying, ‘Not only are we not going to go for gutting the positive environmental programs, we’re putting our money where are mouth is. This is a real issue and we need to deal with it accordingly.’”

While Gibson left his seat at the end of 2016, his replacement, John Faso, and 21st District Rep. Elise Stefanik reintroduced the resolution last month. Katko said several other representatives have already signed on.

Katko has also introduced legislation to reauthorize the Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields program, which provided federal funding for remediation and redevelopment of former industrial or commercial sites. The original program expired in 2006, though states have continued to receive nominal funding.

“There are a lot of sites in Central New York, like Auburn, Wolcott, Fulton, Oswego and Syracuse, and they’ve all benefited from the program,” Katko said. “Basically, with the places where you have heavy industry or heavy polluters who vacate their properties, you have to kind of bring them back through the Brownfield program, or some similar program, to a certain level of safe quality, environmental quality, so that they can be used again. We’ve done that successfully all over our district.”

Katko’s Brownfield Reauthoriziation Act of 2017 would provide $250 million annually for the program through 2022 and increase the cleanup grant from $200,000 to $600,000, while expanding eligibility requirements.

“The Brownfield program is really kind of vital, not only to Central New York, but really for many places in the Northeast and Midwest,” he said. “I just want to make sure that program is still there moving forward.”

Katko said it’s one of many commitments the country needs to make to the environment and the EPA. He said pledges from other Republicans — including the president and Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt himself — to gut the bureau will not be fulfilled.

“It seems like in modern history, presidents are sending pie-in-the-sky-type budgets up to the Capitol Hill, knowing they’re dead on arrival. Often times, [they’re] trying to highlight their priorities but often times, completely out of whack with reality,” Katko said. “Trying to gut EPA, or trying to gut these other agencies, is not going to fly. We’re going to fight hard against that.”

Closer to home

Another fight close to Katko’s heart is the battle against opiates and synthetic drugs. On March 31 he hosted a forum on heroin and drug addiction at City Hall in Oswego, which attracted dozens of people. Katko said the turnout and ensuing discussion was “great.”

“We had a really robust discussion to continue to try and highlight the whole issue with opioid abuse, heroin abuse, synthetic drug abuse,” he said. “I talked about the bill that I’m going to be introducing about synthetic drugs. I had one passed last year, and signed into law but this one is far more sweeping, the concept about that.”

In 2016, legislation Katko authored was written into the Dangerous Synthetic Drug Control Act, which specifically bans 22 synthetic chemicals used to make drugs like “Spice” and “K2,” and outlaws three variants of fentanyl. The bill was passed last year.

Katko said he has been invited to speak about his new legislative proposal at a summit on opioids at the White House to be held Tuesday, April 25.

“My efforts on trying to bring light to this epidemic are paying off, I guess,” he said.

While drug addition and treatment were the main focus of the forum, Katko said anything and everything was discussed.

“We also opened up to general questions for people to ask on any topic,” he said. “It was a packed house and everybody that came there, no matter what question they asked, whether it was heroin-related or not, everyone had their questions answered and no one left there not having any of their questions answered, so I was really happy about that. And we’re going to do more of those going forward. So it was a win-win all the way around.”

Katko said he has tamed some of his more vocal critics, including those in the CNY Solidarity Coalition, by making himself available to them.

“If people are protesting, we pull them in our office all the time to talk to them and have meetings with them,” he said. “And we’re going to continue to do all of that. We’re making inroads by just engaging them.”