By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
On April 28, eight U.S. Representatives from Upstate New York congressional districts participated in a virtual COVID-19 Congressional Town Hall.
The event featured Representatives Anthony Brindisi (D-NY-22), John Katko (R-NY-24), Antonio Delgado (D-NY-19), Brian Higgins (D-NY-26), Joseph Morelle (D-NY-25), Tom Reed (R-NY-23), Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21) and Paul Tonko (D-NY-20).
Hosted from the studios of WTEN-TV and WXXA-TV in Albany, the one-hour town hall brought together viewers in 49 counties across the state via live television broadcast and live-stream video.
The broadcast was presented by WTEN-TV/WXXA-TV anchor and political affairs reporter Tim Lake.
The event opened with Lake providing a recap of the latest developments in the pandemic and posing questions to the representatives.
Lake reported that, at the time, COVID-19 had claimed the lives of 17,638 New Yorkers and that there were 295,106 positive cases still pending across the state.
“It appears now that things are leveling off,” Lake said. “We are entering a new phase of talking about more testing for people in Upstate New York and the possibility of reopening.”
Latest coronavirus economic aid package
The first round of Lake’s questions focused on the $484 billion relief package signed by President Donald Trump on April 24.
Lake noted that the bill— which boosts funding for hospitals, small businesses and virus testing — passed in the House 388 to 5, and that all eight of the town hall participants voted in its favor.
Stefanik highlighted the importance of the $25 billion set aside in the bill for virus testing.
“The $25 billion is focused on ramping up our testing capacity immediately,” Stefanik said. “There are multiple parts of that — being able to purchase supplies, being able to manufacture testing supplies, being able to purchase the chemicals that are used to conduct the tests, and also ramping up our lab capacity. What’s critical . . . is that $11 billion of that is set aside to go directly to states. Half of that $11 billion is focused on states with the highest number of positive COVID tests. That’s important for New York because that means Congress and the federal government are stepping up to help New York surge our testing capacity. It’s also important to note that [it] funds antibody testing, which . . . is incredibly important as we map [and] trace this virus.”
State and local governments
Next Lake discussed Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s recent criticisms of the lack of federal aid to state and local governments.
Brindisi said he agrees that more has to be done for the state.
“We have by far the most deaths across the country,” he said. “What I worry about with us moving forward here in New York State — facing something like an $8.5 billion hold because [we are the epicenter] of this pandemic — is that the state is going to be forced to make some very tough decisions. Having served in the state legislature prior to this, I know the areas that they are going to start cutting involve education . . . as well as healthcare . . . It’s also going to result in a cut to the aid to localities, so our counties, our cities and our towns are going to make some tough decisions about cutting back on first responders, police, fire and EMS personnel; that is something we don’t want to see here across the state.”
Brindisi added that one of his top priorities moving forward is to assist local governments, particularly those municipalities with populations under 500,000 people.
Reed emphasized the importance of both securing aid for local governments and protecting that aid from reduction by the state capitals.
“If we get direct aid to local governments, I don’t want the state capitals to reach in, like they traditionally do, and reduce those local aid lines in order to offset the benefit . . . ” Reed said. “[We have] to make sure the state cannot do that . . .”
The discussion then shifted to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s suggestion that state governments file bankruptcy rather than receive federal funding to help with coronavirus expenses.
Katko expressed his opposition to the senator’s statement and echoed Reed’s comments regarding the importance of supporting local governments while making sure the state does not interfere.
“One thing I have suggested we do is take care of [local governments] by making sure that the frontline EMT, fire, police, and healthcare officials are properly compensated for,” Katko said. “There are programs right now that we can tap into . . . and pay a portion of those funds for a year to those local governments to make sure those services are still there and the state doesn’t interfere with those services and cut other funds to them. Then in a year from now when they are back on their feet, it will be back on them. It’s a good civil way . . . of making sure the money gets to the front lines.”
Morelle said he and a colleague have proposed $330 billion in state funding, most of which he believes would make its way to local communities.
“If the state of New York is projecting over a $10 billion revenue deficit, that only results in reductions back to communities and local organizations,” Morelle said.
He also suggested that local governments be permitted to use the money that has already been designated to them as an allowable expense.
Loans for farmers
Delgado discussed his efforts to support farmers, particularly those in the dairy industry.
The congressman said the $9.5 billion of disaster assistance secured for farmers through the first CARES Act would not be implemented for another month.
He also noted that while farmers are eligible for the paycheck protection program, those funds are running dry quickly.
Delgado concluded by saying although he and his colleagues were successful in gaining farmers eligibility for the economic injury disaster loan, the farmers are unlikely to actually have access to the assistance.
“Within 24 to 48 hours of learning that our farmers would be eligible for that loan, we were informed by the [Small Business Administration] that ‘You are eligible in theory only because the backlog is so significant . . .’” he explained.
Guaranteed income
Reed said his opposition to the concept of a guaranteed income is that such a system would not be sustainable.
“I support the concept of hard work,” he said. “If you think government can provide relief to you from cradle to grave, that is a fundamental disagreement that [we] have . . . I believe the [healthcare workers on the frontlines] deserve an economic impact check themselves for being in that position of work . . . Those folks that stayed there and received the paycheck and stayed in the work position and served us during this time, I am all about giving them a bonus for that American work ethic that they demonstrated.”
Opening Up America Again Congressional Group
Katko and Stefanik are both members of President Trump’s Opening Up America Again Congressional Group — a bipartisan taskforce created to provide counsel to the president on reopening the country in the wake of COVID-19.
According to Katko, Central New York’s priorities include increasing testing as soon as possible and eventually restarting the economy.
In addition to advocating for the front line workers, Katko shared his support for an infrastructure package, as well as expanded opportunities for tax breaks for manufacturing and call centers in Upstate New York.
“Bring those businesses back from overseas, especially China, so we are not so vulnerable if there is another outbreak . . .,” he said. “We need the jobs in Upstate New York . . . “
Stefanik discussed the importance of northern border issues, explaining that much of the manufacturing supply chain in her district is dependent upon U.S.-Canadian trade. She added that she is also prioritizing dairy relief and increasing testing throughout the state.
Broad reopening versus regional reopening
Higgins emphasized the importance of containing and abating the virus before opening up the economy.
“Everyone wants the economy to open up, but the fact of the matter is that if we don’t do this right, we will be back to where we were six weeks ago,” he said. “Nobody wants to go back there, so I think first and foremost, let’s listen to the public health experts . . .”
Higgins also expressed his belief that the country should have been prepared for the pandemic.
“We have to put funding into the national institutes of health for effective treatments and for a vaccine to avoid this pandemic,” he said. “The fact of the matter is we don’t have those things right now and our fragile healthcare system is forced to provide what is refereed to as ‘support services’ to victims of COVID-19, because there are no treatments and there are no vaccines . . . I just get concerned when folks talk about having a vaccine within a few months or a year; that’s probably not going to happen, and I think we should level with the American people.”
Return to Washington
The U.S. Representatives are expected to return to Washington, D.C. by mid May.
According to Tonko, Congress will have a number of issues to “iron out” regarding the fourth round of stimulus funding.
“Obviously, there has been this whole issue of state and local governments and school systems getting funded from Washington,” Tonko said. “I think that’s very important. We need to have a maintenance-of-effort clause included [and] we need to have the human infrastructure addressed . . . So it’s important to get all of that funding done through the local and state government and school route. Also, I think [reporting requirements] should be stronger in law, so that as we do this next package we’ll know where those dollars are going.”
He also advocated for working across party lines to invest further in testing kits and PPE.
Morelle said one of his priorities is an infrastructure bill that would both improve transportation and expand broadband access to help bridge the digital divide that has become increasingly apparent in healthcare and education.
Brindisi praised the most recent stimulus package for setting aside funding for small lending institutions like community banks and credit unions.
“We have to make sure that when we appropriate money, we are appropriating to the right places,” he said. “I have been very concerned about the Small Business Administration and how the funding has rolled out over the last couple [of relief] packages here. We’ve seen that a lot of the paycheck protection program funding has gone to other states; in fact, New York is second to last in terms of the number of PPP loans that have been handed out, where Texas is number one. We have double the unemployment right now that Texas does and New York is the epicenter of this pandemic. The intention of Congress is not being followed through right now by the Small Business Administration and the Treasury, and we have to make sure that that happens. That can be accomplished through greater oversight in Congress . . . but we also have to be wise here when we appropriate funding. We have to put more restrictions in place to make sure that funding is getting to the places that need it most.”
Following Lake’s questions regarding the federal response to the pandemic, the broadcast moved to questions submitted by viewers around the state.
To view the town hall in its entirety, visit localsyr.com/news/local-news/covid-19-congressional-town-hall/.
