So how is Tom doing on his priorities?
- Has he helped create a tax code that is fair
- a tax code that will help working families
- a tax code that will rein in national debt
- Has he succeeded in implementing real healthcare reforms
- in controlling healthcare costs
- Has he succeeded in getting college costs in check
- Has he helped families struggling with poverty
- has he promoted career opportunities here in upstate NY
Tom claims that he cares and is working hard for us. How do readers rate Tom’s performance on his priorities? Has he made any progress on what he said was important?
Thanks for Rich Stewart for the list of priorities which Tom passed out at his December 2016 Town Hall in Barrington. Anyone wishing to question Tom Reed might want to review these questions and Tom’s responses at Barrington.
https://newny23rd.com/2016/12/16/reed-in-his-own-words-at-barrington/
Tom is often consistent in his talking points. One might expect similar responses to questions this year.
New NY 23rd 
The entire Congress, including Democrats, has failed at all of this.
What specific ideas do any Congressional members or anyone else have at working to improve these issues?
I would like to hear them.
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I am sure Democrats have ideas as I do. Here is what I would do:
*Create a tax code that is fair–ensure that wealthy individuals pay what they owe; close corporate tax loopholes
*a tax code that will help working families–increase the standard deduction, increase child credit
*a tax code that will rein in national debt–ensure that wealthy individuals pay what they owe; close corporate tax loopholes
*implementing real healthcare reforms–strengthen and improve Obamacare
*control healthcare costs–strengthen and improve Obamacare
*get college costs in check–more financial support for students
*help families struggling with poverty–improve funding for anti-poverty programs
*promote career opportunities here in upstate NY–support education, fund anti-poverty programs
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There’s a pile of 45Committee announcements on the NYS23rd area internet supporting Reed for his tax cut position. Any orchestrated responses in Indivisible 23 underway to undercut this?
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“45 Committee is a dark money group founded by Todd Ricketts and dedicated to supporting the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump.” If they are meddling with NY-23 politics, could you give an example, Richard?.
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This may be one such advertisement:
http://www.passtaxreform.org/
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It looks like Congressional members (R) Lee Zeldin, (R) Pete King, (D) Dan Donovan, (R) John J. Faso, (R) Elise Stefanik, (R) Claudia Tenney and (R) John Katko will vote no for the current “tax reform!!! ” proposal. I am sure (D) Louise Slaughter will vote no.
Tom Reed and Chris Collins will most likely support it.
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Tenney voted AYE.
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2017/roll637.xml
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Speaking of wasted tax dollars and wasteful government spending;
“Andrew Cuomo’s corruption machine where he gives away millions in corporate welfare to wealthy special interests who turn around and fill his campaign coffers is alive and well. This Governor gives away $420 million of hard-earned tax dollars every year to the film industry that is already flush with cash and wasted $15 million on an empty film hub in Syracuse, and now he’s jetting off to California to rake in campaign donations from the Hollywood executives who benefited. It’s a form of money laundering that is ethically and politically corrupt, all so he can try to run for President. If the Governor thinks he can get away with this, he’s California dreamin’.”
This fits in perfectly with the 750 million dollars of wasted taxpayer money giGovernor Cuomo gave to Elon Musk’s Solar City plant in Buffalo which currently has no solar panel production going on in it.
Andrew Cuomo is the king of corporate welfare, bloated budgets and state debt.
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She caved, she wants to remain in DC longer than a 2 year stint !
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Katco also voted yes !
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From Capital Confidential;
“Despite no votes from five New York Republicans, the House GOP tax reform bill was approved Thursday afternoon.
Passage of the bill is a first step. The U.S. Senate has its own version of the tax reform bill, and the two proposals will have to be reconciled.
U.S. Reps. John Faso of Kinderhook and Elise Stefanik of Essex County both voted against the bill. They were among 13 Republicans total who panned the legislation.
Also voting no from New York were Long Island Reps. Peter King and Lee Zeldin, and Staten Island Rep. Dan Donovan. Reps. Claudia Tenney, Chris Collins, Tom Reed and John Katko, all upstaters, voted for the bill.
Some New York Republicans had expressed grave concerns about the bill’s impact on state and local tax deductibility. The House bill gets rid of deductions for state income and sales taxes. It caps deductions for property taxes at $10,000.
The Senate bill wipes out the SALT deductions altogether.
Shortly before the vote took place, Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not lay off Republicans who planned to vote no and ultimately did. Following an appearance in Sullivan County, Cuomo said Faso was allowed to vote no because the GOP had the votes it needed to pass the bill anyway (227 Republicans ultimately voted for it; 216 votes were needed).
“It’s baloney,” Cuomo said. “I don’t care how you vote, yes or no. You’re a Republican congress person, you can stop it. You can stop it. Faso should go to his leadership and say, if you do this, I’m out.”
By “I’m out,” Cuomo meant resign, he later clarified.
“That’s what they would do if they really represented the people of this state,” he said.
He said New York GOPers who planned to vote for the bill, and ultimately did, are treasonous.
On Wednesday, Faso said the SALT piece “will impact New York families more severely than taxpayers in other states.”
“Since New York taxpayers already send over $40 billion more in tax dollars to Washington than we receive back in federal benefits and services, we are not being subsidized by any state,” he said in a statement. “Frankly, I resent the accusation that New Yorkers are being subsidized by the rest of the nation, when in fact the opposite is true.”
Still, the first-term Republican bristled at suggestions from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer that the tax proposal will severely harm the middle class. Cuomo has pushed an analysis showing that on average taxpayers in Faso’s 19th Congressional District would pay nearly $2,200 more per year in taxes.
“Contrary to the rhetoric of Governor Cuomo and Senator Schumer, most middle income taxpayers in our district would receive tax cuts under this bill,” Faso said. “However, the statewide impact of the proposal will dramatically and negatively impact state revenues as wealthier taxpayers and their businesses flee New York State to lower taxed jurisdictions. These revenue reductions will ultimately hurt our district as the state’s tax base is further eroded. We are already losing people due to the failure of Governor Cuomo to reduce New York’s high tax burden and to honestly address the regulatory climate which is killing jobs and opportunity in our state.”
“However, my dissatisfaction with New York’s status quo, does not allow me to conclude that New York families should become collateral damage in the federal tax debate because Albany refuses to improve the tax and business climate in our state,” he added.
Stefanik also took aim at state officials in a statement ahead of the vote, in which she too cited concerns about the SALT piece.
“This bill highlights the failure of New York State to rein in spending, and to reduce the tax burden for all New Yorkers,” she said.”
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Gary —
It looks like you were wrong about how some NY reps would vote. I concede that I was surprised (wrong) by Katko’s aye vote. It looks like Rachel Weil’s Indivisible group is just as ineffective as NY 23’s Indivisible.
Once tax federal tax “reform” is complete, and it is apparent the deficit is ‘exploding’, the Rs can turn to Social Security and Medicare–where “reform” will be needed. TO CONTROL THE DEFICIT. LOL.
One way to thwart that effort will be to flip the House in 2018. And our contribution would be to get rid of Reed in 2018.
BUT given the pathetic efforts of the NY23 opposition (Indivisible AND Democrats) to date, that ain’t gonna happen.
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So, Arthur, what do you suggest be done to defeat Reed, since you think we are powerless?
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Not at all powerless.
Demonstrably Ineffective.
And I have gone to Democratic meetings and Indivisible meetings.
I’ve mentioned my misgivings and offered suggestions.
I’ve been dismissed at every attempt. So has my wife.
There is a definite fanatic component that is not interested in any new ideas that rock the boat.
Something that I have seen in evidence on this blog.
Some suggestions, not in any particular order:
1. Engage with Reed voters. Talk. It’s amazing the amount of common ground that exists. It is also amazing how much disaffection there is with people who voted for Reed last time.
2. The people who voted for Reed last time want an alternative. And that is NOT a litmus tested Democrat.
3. How did a Lesbian Democrat pull off an election victory in conservative Oklahoma?
4. How did a Democrat transsexual pull off an election victory in conservative Virginia?
5. Stop the screaming at Reed Town halls. Listen. Respectfully!
6. Have experts available at Reed Town Halls to respectfully and expertly skewer him when he lies. and do it in conversational tones. But tenaciously.
7. The Indivisible Guide has great suggestions. I haven’t seen them implemented.
8. Stop antagonizing Reed / Independent voters with Trump. They might not be happy with Trump, but they are not going to stand for lectures from liberal / fascist / libtard / Democrats
9. FIND COMMON GROUND. Our similarities with our neighbors far outweigh our differences. We are ALL Americans and are ALL patriotic.
10. FIND A MESSAGE. A simple one. For all of us. And stick to it.
11. Reed voted for a huge increase in the deficit. That is NOT conservative.
12. Reed voted against the middle class.
Geez, I could keep going on…..
Guess what? I could be wrong about all of these suggestions.
The one thing that is demonstrable.
After nearly a year of NY 23 Democrat and Indivisible efforts, Reed is not scared. His votes prove it.
A course change is needed.
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Thank you, Arthur. The groups that I am involved with are doing most if not all of those things. I agree that the screaming at town hall meetings does not accomplish anything.
Too bad we can’t do anything about the influence that his big out-of-district donors (88% of his donors) have on his votes. I also suspect that his extreme alignment with Trump is because he is still hoping to be chosen for something bigger.
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Carol,
Screaming at Town Halls is not harmless. It gives Reed stature. It aggrieves his supporters. It stereotypes Reed’s opposition….and more. It accomplishes plenty.
We can’t do anything about stopping his out of district support. But it should be publicized. Again, I repeat, we ALL have reason to get rid of him. Dems / Reps / Indies. We have lots of differences, but I think that we can unite when money is being taken from us and our children.
Reed is a rising start in the Republican party. And even if we throw him out of his seat, he will remain one.
What groups are you involved with?
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One possible message is “we care about each other.” Does it matter that Tom Reed also claims “I care?”
George Lakoff writes:
It’s time for the Democratic Party to examine its soul and remember why it’s the only major political party that reflects the progressive idea of our nation – a government of, by, and for the People.
It is also the only major party to accept the founding idea of our nation, that citizens care about their fellow citizens and work through the government to provide public resources for the benefit of all. Whether private lives or private enterprise, public resources from roads, bridges, airports, and sewers to public education and public health, to science and technology — computer science (thank NSF and DARPA) to satellite communication (thank NASA) to modern medicine (thank NIH). The private depends on public resources! Every Democrat knows this truth, and it is assumed by almost all Democratic legislation.
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From Capital Confidential;
Cuomo statement draws rebuke from GOP congressional reps
by Matthew Hamilton
Thursday was controversial enough in New York with the House passing Republican tax reform legislation.
Then came the kerfuffle over who said what about why four of the Empire State’s House Republicans were voting yes on the bill.
At an event on Long Island after the vote took place, Gov. Andrew Cuomo suggested that he had spoken with those representatives and they had admitted they were under political pressure to vote for the bill.
“I am most appalled that you would have Republican congresspeople who voted for it,” he said. “I talked to all of them, and they all had the same line, which was, ‘Well, you know, my political leaders are forcing me to vote for it.’ You don’t work for your political leaders. You work for the people who elected you. And this was a betrayal of the people who elected them because this will hurt their constituents.”
The thing was, only one of the four confirmed that Cuomo called, and that rep claimed the conversation didn’t go like that.
According to U.S. Rep. Tom Reed’s office, the Southern Tier Republican spoke with the Democratic governor Oct. 20 at 4 p.m. for more than 40 minutes. Party leadership never came up, per Reed’s camp.
“I knew the governor was a bully, but I didn’t know he was an outright liar,” Reed said in a statement. “A true leader tries to address the problems of the people they represent. Clearly the governor can’t lead our state out of its problems, so how can he expect to be the leader of our nation? I support tax relief for hardworking New Yorkers — maybe the governor should get his spending under control so we can focus on the same.”
Reps. Chris Collins and Claudia Tenney — who have chilly relationships with the governor — took to Twitter, saying the governor never rang them. Katko also claimed Cuomo never called, according to the Auburn Citizen.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi later said Cuomo’s point “was the Republican congressmen he spoke to said they were under pressure from their political leadership? to vote yes.”
A related aside: Cuomo made a similar comment earlier in the day on Thursday about U.S. Rep. John Faso. He suggested Faso was allowed to vote no by leadership because they knew they had the votes without him.
Faso told Hearst’s Dan Freedman: “Not in the least. Leadership met with me trying to address my concerns. (Eventually) I told them I couldn’t support it. That was it.”
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Rhynnie–
This is also reported in the NY Times
Not really to my point, is it?
And your obsession with Cuomo….I get it. I’m not terribly enthused about him either.
Do you think Reed would have changed his vote if Andy actually DID talk to him?
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Carol —
Today’s Washington Post
“… progressives, in turn, are right to argue for clear, compelling and comprehensible policies to deal with the economic inequalities that are hurting many in the ranks of Clinton and Trump voters alike. Bold, not bland, is the way to go.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/stop-the-sniping-washington-democrats-learn-from-the-grass-roots/2017/11/19/788a9880-cbd9-11e7-8321-481fd63f174d_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-c%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.d5f9971006f3
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