Rep. Faso, in AARP call, says he seeks consensus, defends health care vote
U.S. Rep. John Faso on Thursday told people participating in an AARP conference call that he is seeking bipartisan consensus on issues that concern the “50-plus” population in New York’s 19th Congressional District.
Faso, R-Kinderhook, was trying to assure callers who signaled their wariness with the current polarized political climate in the nation.
“I’d like to know what specific actions you’ll take to decrease some of the divisiveness between the political parties and how
you’re going to distinguish your voting record as representing all of the constituents in the district,” said a woman who identified herself as Maryann from Amenia.
Faso responded that he has been ranked by the Lugar Center as the at 18th most bipartisan member of the House.
“I try every time I introduce a bill that I have a Democratic co-sponsor on the legislation,” he said.
A man who said he was from Monticello asked Faso to defend his vote to repeal and replace the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.
Faso responded: “There’s so many in our district ... [who] said they liked aspects of the Affordable
Care Act. Just as many, if not more ... especially if they were a small business owner or people who were in a group plan through their employer, told me they could no longer afford their health insurance. As I’ve said to folks, what good is it if you have a bronze or silver plan with an $8,000 deductible?”
Faso also said his position has been misrepresented in campaign ads for his Democratic opponent, Antonio Delgado of Rhinebeck.
“The whole business about [being] the deciding vote ... was a vote in the Budget Committee to move forward with a budget resolution, which they later attached the health care bill to,” the congressman said. “So I was certainly supportive of trying to reform the aspects of the Affordable Care Act, but at the time we
voted on this in committee, it was not the full legislation we had later voted on.”
A woman identifying herself as a resident of Mountaindale took issue with Faso over coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions.
“I was on a town hall call with you the other day where you denied the actions taken by the GOP where going to hurt [people with] pre-existing conditions,” she said. “After you said that, I looked it up, and I have a list here of certain pre-existing conditions ... that are not going to be protected, and they affect people who are in the AARP. Some of that list includes asthma, anxiety, depression, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, stroke, kidney disease, COPD and more.”
The woman told Faso that “just around the time you took office [in January
2017], the Affordable Care Act was starting to work for Americans, the prices were coming down, but President Trump was so determined to fulfill his promise to repeal it that he’s been passing executive orders to hurt it and cause it to implode.”
Of the medical conditions cited by the caller, Faso responded: “I don’t know where you saw that list, but that is ... absolutely not true.”
He also said lawmakers on “both sides of the aisle” support requiring insurers to coverage pre-existing conditions.
“It’s unfortunate that this is brought into a political context in a way that is basically 30-second ads,” Faso said. Such ads, he said, make it “very difficult for people to be able to decipher what’s true and what isn’t.”
AARP reported there
were about 3,060 people on the 55-minute call. It came nine days after the organization released a poll showing that Faso, who is seeking a second two-year term, trails Delgado by 43-36 percent among people in the 19th District over 50 years old. A separate poll last month showed only 38 percent of people in the same age group nationwide favored Republican President Donald Trump’s job performance. Fifty-four percent disapproved.
Delgado is scheduled to participate in an AARP conference call on Friday, but neither Green Party candidate Steve Greenfield nor independent candidate Diane Neal was offered the opportunity to hold such a call.
“We have guidelines we set up at the beginning of our election season that our national election office
gives us,” said AARP Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy David McNally. “The only ones that met all of them were Delgado and Faso.”
McNally said Greenfield, a New Paltz resident. was not included because the Green Party did not have a candidate in the last general election and the current candidate has not reached 10 percent support in polls. Neal, a TV actress who lives in Hurley, was left out, McNally said, because she had not secured a ballot position until recent court challenges were resolved.
New York’s 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.