UP CLOSE WITH FASO
Congressman, at town hall event, defends support of defense and health care bills
U.S. Rep. John Faso, speaking at a packed forum in the Esopus Town Hall, said he supports a recent defense appropriations bill that would, in part, provide a military pay raise and increase defense readiness while also providing $1.6 billion for enhanced border security.
But the Kinderhook Republican said he does not support building a wall “on every nook and cranny of the U.S.-Mexico border.”
Faso fielded a variety of questions during the Thursday night forum, which drew about 200 people and lasted more than 90 minutes.
The questions were submitted in writing by attendees and then selected by the moderators, Gerald Benjamin and Debra Clinton. The two took turns choosing questions, which were read by the people who submitted them.
Benjamin and Clinton called on members to remain civil, but some shouted criticisms of Faso’s statements or booed his responses. Some also tried to factcheck the congressman.
Outside, at the entrance to the Town Hall property, dozens of protestors lined both sides of the driveway, holding signs and chanting criticisms of Faso like “John Faso, do your job” and “The people united will never be divided.” Messages on the signs included “Faso makes me sick” and “John Faso for sale.”
Shelley Eshkar said he helped organize the protest because the kind of town hall events Faso
holds are “fake” and “managed.”
Faso, a first-term congressman representing New York’s 19th Congressional District, has largely resisted calls to hold town hall events throughout the district, previously characterizing them as political traps designed to serve the needs of his opponents. During Thursday’s event, the congressman said he has had more than 400 meetings with constituents since taking office at the beginning of the year and that his office has received more than 75,000 communications from constituents, though it had a limited staff and capacity to respond to all of them.
On the issue of the U.S.Mexico border wall proposed by President Donald Trump, Faso was asked Thursday if he would commit to rejecting any federal budget that includes funding for its construction.
Faso said the defense appropriations bill had provisions he supported, such as the military pay raise and defense readiness.
“We also had a provision in that bill, $1.6 billion, for enhanced border security,” Faso said. “Now the president has labeled this as his quote-unquote‘ wall .’ In actuality, most of this is routine upgrades and improvements, both technologicallywise and barrier-wise along the southern border.”
The congressman also said he thought it was irresponsible to suggest there would be a way or means to make Mexico pay for a border wall, a claim Trump made a centerpiece of his presidential campaign.
Recently, Trump said he would force a federal government shutdown if a border wall is not funded by Congress.
“I voted ‘yes’ on the defense appropriations bill, frankly, because that is one of the single most important things that we can do to protect the safety and security of our country,” Faso said.
Faso also was asked if he still felt Trump was fit to serve as president. The congressman responded that Trump was elected to the position.
He noted that Trump carried the 19th Congressional District, though he conceded that voters sometimes make mistakes.
Asked if he would support impeachment proceedings against Trump, Faso said: “At the present time, certainly not.”
Faso defended his voting record, stating he has disagreed with the president on some issues. Regarding the federal budget, he noted the vast majority of Trump’s proposals regarding the Environmental Protection Agency were rejected.
Another constituent asked Faso to explain his vote to defund Planned Parenthood. The congressman said he did not agree with that provision being in the health care legislation but that it was not the determining factor in his vote.
“I did not agree with singling that organization out, but at the same time, the bill had many other provisions in it,” Faso said.
Another attendee, who identified herself as being Jewish with a stepbrother who is black, a daughter who is Hispanic and a nephew who is transgender, asked Faso what legislation he would support to address the rise in hate crimes.
“I absolutely detest the neo-Nazis and skinheads and white nationalists that have demonstrated, like in Charlottesville (Virginia) a few weeks ago,” Faso said. “I mean, it was just simply reprehensible.”
He said he utterly rejects that kind of philosophy and believes the U.S. Justice Department and state and local law enforcement need to vigorously prosecute hate crimes. Faso also said he believes state and local law enforcement have sufficient legal authority to pursue such prosecutions but that if there are gaps in the legislation, they should be filled.
Faso also addressed such topics as health care and the corporate tax rate, which he has spoken about at previous forums, including one held by the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce two weeks ago. He said he continues to work with the Problem Solvers Group in Congress to come up with bipartisan ways to fix the health care system and looks forward to trying to get those solutions passed when lawmakers return to session next week.
Attendees asked Faso several questions about health care, including whether he regretted voting for a Republican bill that even Trump called “mean.” Faso used those questions to disagree with the federal Congressional Budget Office’s assertion the Republican bill would have caused 14 million people to be without health care by 2018. He also said he wants to “fix flaws” in the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which is why he is working with the Problem Solvers Group. Faso also said he does not believe in a single-payer system.
Also, Faso again expressed his determination to make New York state take over the local cost of the Medicaid program, which he said would reduce the burden on county property taxpayers. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has targeted Faso for that initiative, calling it “a ponzi scheme” that would cost New York $2.3 billion in annual revenue.
On Friday, the citizen action group Move Forward New York issued a press release saying Faso still refuses to denounce Trump, appears to be beholden to the health insurance industry and refuses to distance himself from political action committees and “dark money” in campaign financing.
The group, which organized Thursday’s town hall event, said Faso’s constituents came prepared with thoughtful questions and meaningful demands but were met, for the most part, “with artful dodging, selective deflection and facts that need to be ‘checked.’”
The 19th Congressional District comprises all of Ulster, Greene, Columbia, Sullivan, Delaware, Schoharie and Otsego counties; most of Dutchess County; parts of Rensselaer and Montgomery counties; and a small piece of Broome County.