Facebook Live Town Hall

Alright, here we go setting up the meeting. Hello everyone it is great to join you all on my first Facebook Live. I am in D C and it's very busy so I do wanna start off by saying we've been trying to coordinate this event with a pretty unpredictable schedule so I am gonna flag that there could be a situation where I might have to end this sooner than antic. But I'm excited to be able to share some insights with you give you an update on where things are. It's been a very busy in DC we've got a lot of things going on a lot of things that I wanna focus on that. I think we do a lot of good for our district I want to note that today, we'll be voting on a very important infrastructure bill to move forward at there's a lot of good work for our upstate communities. I will be speaking to that a little bit later on I do wanna begin though giving a little bit of an update on Cove mid-nineteenth across the state most of our districts are in phase one and most of our regions. I should say our face for not phase one Phase four except for the Mid Hudson, which is in phase three. I believe that includes Ulster of in Dutchess so we're still working through that new-york continues to reopen. Important I would urge that we wear a mask and that we keep social distance. we must abide by the guidelines here as we continue to make sure that we slowly but surely open up our economy in terms of what we are working on legislatively it's been a very busy month with June having now been put behind us. I'll say we've focused primarily on convict rightfully so we've got five bills that were tailored. Covid-, 19 for those bills have been signed into law a lot of work around the paycheck protection program the economic injury disaster loans direct payments, Unemployment benefits Health care resources testing very, very busy in that space. I was happy to get my small business Repayment Relief Act and included in the Cares Act, which you know allows our small businesses wave their principal their interest and fees on SBA loans, or at least the big loans both Already existence before the pandemic and those that are newly entered into. I also want to flag that we passed the Heroes Act sometime ago, which has a lot of good for state and local governments and we have got to get this over the finish line through the Senate and signed by the President. if he cares only look out for or provide federal funding for government units serving populations greater than 500000, We don't have any such government unit in New York, 19. We are a small I should say a rural district with a lot of small town. Localities counties and so it's imperative that we get that direct aid I partnered on a bipartisan basis with Lee Zeldin to introduce the direct support to Communities Act, which ensures that all localities irrespective of population receive direct relief. so I will continue to fight for direct aid to our localities our towns our hams, our villages and of course, our counties. I will also note that as part. The latest legislative efforts we were able to do some good work and that ultimately became law to the Senate to rework the PPP program changed some of the requirements around the breakdown between which part of the loan goes to employees in which part might go to other costs. So really excited about that piece. we're also able to extend the length of term you could use the Longo to the end of the year rather than eight weeks. now it's 24 weeks so a good development. I also just introduced a bill that will help small businesses who are applied for the loan and they've already exhausted their funds to circle back and reapply and again I've heard from a lot of small business owners that they could use some additional funding so hopefully this bill that I introduced which focuses on businesses smaller businesses who need the support and need a second bite at the Apple if you will to give them that second bite so they can sustain themselves to a rather. Difficult economic environment also introduced the bill that would create a small business tax credit up to 20 - 5000 to help offset the cost of installing PE, including Gass, a glass mask gloves again as we try to help sustain our small businesses. this is critically important so I will keep you up-to-date on that. Hopefully it'll make its way to the House to become a pass and then through the Senate and ultimately law I do want to acknowledge the fact that we this week also earlier in the week I actually should stay late Was able we were able to pass the Justice in Policing Act and all together different set of issues but an important set of issues indeed, you know we have a lot right now on the table as far as what we're experiencing across across the country. a lot of demonstrations and I think they are exhibiting a passion that we have to meet this moment. we have so many folks out there cross generationally Multi-racial multi-cultural coming together calling for a. More racially just society and so in that vein, particularly around policing here in Congress, we are trying to meet that moment We introduced the Justice in Policing Act, a comprehensive reform bill that creates more accountability and more transparency in policing bands choke holds bands no search warrant for drug cases takes on the liability shield that has become a qualified immunity requires a racial. Training begins a National registry for police misconduct so critical steps in the right direction and that I think are imperative as we hope to meet the moment here and basically make it clear that these types of changes are long overdue and so again, I would hope that we can take this bill up in the Senate now and the President can sign it into law. I also wanted to focus on a couple more things that are on the table this week here in the House. we passed. the patient protection and affordable Care Enhancement Act of this includes numerous provisions to bolster the Affordable Care Act and lower health care costs expanding accessibility to health care coverage, which we we know in Middle of a pandemic, particularly is of utmost importance important to note that we are dealing with the administration that is currently seeking to roll back the ACA right now to the Supreme Court so the wrong. In my opinion, we need to be doing all that we can to make health care more affordable and accessible for everyone. The bill also ensures that Medicare can have negotiating power with the pharmaceutical industry, which as you might imagine what a profound effect on lowering the cost of prescription drugs so big big bill there it's kind of bill that I think is a critical step, not the end of be all to solving our health care. you know, I have a bill that I introduced called the Medicare Choice Act, which. A public option gives folks a choice to opt in to Medicare. I think a step like that it's certainly warranted as well. There's also a bill we passed this week the emergency housing protections and Relief Act, and this address is urgent needs urgent indeed for housing relief the bill establishes several emergency Grant and housing assistance programs to help renters landlords and homeowners make housing payments and avoid homelessness during the Corona virus pandemic. And then today we're gonna pass as I alluded to earlier on the moving forward at H Rtwo. This is a comprehensive infrastructure bill that is gonna be critically important for our district and our state new-york, but also all across the country and also it includes a number of bills that address some of the issues that we've experienced in our district around limousines and the lack of regulation that has led to some pretty tragic. As we witnessed you know back in 2018, the fact that we have a guy to a point that we can introduce legislation that would basically help keep these roads off of these cars off the road is of critical importance. There's a safety accountability in federal Enforcement of Limos Act. Other words' safe limos to take unsafe limos off the road at and to build that I introduced the end the Limo Loophole Act specifically the end. The loophole would make making sure that any motor vehicle be registered with nine or more passengers as a commercial vehicle. Currently that limit is 15 and so stretch limousines are able to get around that the extra work that is required to meet regulatory standard. We gotta make sure we we course correct that the bill also has important legislation around broadband access. We know how important that is we have to accelerate access for our rural communities and. Also have a bill that I introduced as a part of this internship package that will create more funding for public transportation in our rural communities so a lot a lot going on right now but we're gonna keep it going. but we've got a lot of things that we have to continue to get through the House in the Senate and I'm excited to keep doing that work on your behalf now let me with that go to our questions that I know folks have submitted and I wanna. That I think what we did here was we had folks to submit questions and I would ask folks to continue to submit questions in the comments please you know, say your name your hometown and then provide your question. I will start let me pull up my document here to make sure we're good to go believe the first question we have. is from Arc the arc of Delaware County one of four Organization that does tremendous work helping folks. with special needs health care Community Center the question is a bill was passed last May, which included a list of the priorities what is being done to act on those provisions provisions like funding Medicaid home and Community-based services. we need a comprehensive organized funded response to plan for additional and the future pandemics for the IDD population we need funding for PE for our. Care workers. stats from the arc National as of the end of May 40 percent of our chapters have been hit with death and viruses very important question that came from the arc and I'll just say that supporting our home care workers and those who provide critical community-based services is essential. is it is a real priority of mine. I signed onto a letter that Castro and Holland and led. We're calling for the creation of family care for all the essential workers and vulnerable family caregivers family care would expand paid sick a medical and family leave provide access to affordable health care and mental health care ensures supports for caregiving of seniors and people with disabilities and provide cash assistance to offset the unexpected costs required to safely respond to covid- 19. So we are certainly focusing on that. there's an urgent need for additional support for the home. The services that I provide a hundred and 75 billion for the provide relief fund to support health care providers, including those who participated in Medicaid. It also provided more than 16 billion to support the purchasing of PPE, which we know is so vitally important. we've got to continue to be diligent when it comes to make sure we have the PPE and the testing the testing testing is gonna of paramount importance as you move forward, we're seeing across the country. Others there's been some spikes. It's important that we remain diligent and abide by the CDC guidelines. let's see what we have next year Diana unfortunately, I'm not sure what Diana comes from just don't doesn't say where she's from but she asks. how Congress is moving on further covert relief. how we're gonna move on further relief what is in the works now is it looking favorable that both. House and will get a deal before the end of the year. do you believe the budget due in October will just be a continuation of last year due to the crisis and the upcoming election and so that and it's very important question and I'll just say this. we have a bill The Hero Zach there's a lot in the bill. You know it's a bill that attempts to meet the moment with regards to supporting continuing the PPP program the Economic disaster loan program more direct payments unemployment. Insurance support for our farmers and then there's a meaningful stuff in there as well around elections as I know that mental health so there's a bill that and of course, state and local funding I don't wanna or you know miss. That is a massive part of the hero's Act and and of chief importance for me the fact that we have not gotten any movement with the Senate in terms of negotiations here on this bill, I find deeply problematic the the. Currently isn't slowing down in that regard, people are still hurting the impact of shutting down our economy is still ongoing and we are seeing business slowly open up and try to manage to this situation but it is imperative that we still inject some more stimulus into the system and I'll know if we do not inject more stimulus into the system we risk permanent damage to the economy. The whole point is to make sure that some of our small businesses. At least propped up long enough so that once we get over the hump of this pandemic we are in a position where they are not are they are actually still around to do business if they can't survive during this process and we lose the business because of it that's permanent loss to our economy and it's a lot more difficult to recover. So this is very important and that our state and local actors get that funding to we got essential workers on the front lines doing meaningful work right now and we've got too many localities small towns counties who haven't. Any assistance to deal with the fact that their budget is hemorrhaging because of the loss of tax revenue so big big issue for me, I'm gonna continue to press this. I have my direct relief to communities Act that I partnered up with these Zeldin to introduce we gotta get this done and I'm hoping we can get it done before the end of the year. I don't I don't see how we can't and expect folks to to manage through this crisis, both from a health standpoint and from an economic standpoint next up. Have Joan again don't have the hometown but Joan Thank you for for she said. Can you explain how the Heroes Act would provide opportunities for everyone to vote? That's a great question. Joan and a very important one you know we saw what happened of late. Wisconsin the lines that 678 hours you know Georgia. Effect and we can do better you know if we are truly the beacon of hope and the standard bearer of democracy around the world, we need to make sure that we put the work in and acting like it and that means investing in our resources and enabling our state's you know to do the work that is required to protect folks and give them every opportunity they and to register and participate in the election process without putting themselves at risk of harm the heroes. A lot in that regard not only does anyway, but the Cares Act does that too 400 million in the Cares Act to help the or the emergency funds to help States prepare for the Corona virus and the the the dilemmas that they might post for folks who are trying to go to the polls and that includes three point six billion for equipment supplies and staffing needed to administer elections in 2020. I'll also note. That we should also just make it a lot easier for folks to vote and we do that in the act with allowing for absentee balloting Laing for a requiring all States to have a 15 day early voting period having same day registration. so there's a lot of good stuff in the Heroes Act beyond just security, which is gonna be a big deal but accessibility to the ballot box. as we go through what we know, they're very very difficult. When it comes to our health, we don't want to risk our health unnecessarily and there are ways to do this in the act seeks to do that with some critical measures I see a number of questions from folks around broadband and not surprisingly this is a big issue. it's an issue that I've been talking about for since day one of being a sworn in. You look at what broadband has meant to folks, particularly during the covid- 19 pandemic you're talking about homeschooling, you're talking about a small businesses conducting their businesses online and farmers as well. full applying for loans. we're talking about a seniors who rely on telemedicine. it is a basic utility. That's why I'm on the rural broadband task force. That's why I've held field hearings in the district on this very issue why I've introduced extensive legislation in this space and dealt with. To make sure that the mapping of broadband is funded in a way that reflects the fact that we can't just have senses block mapping where it's just one home in a whole block being covered. everybody is being covered. that's ridiculous, particularly in rural areas like our district so very busy now in the Heroes Act. there's a great legislation in the Heroes Act that accelerates funding for particularly disadvantage rural communities that have been left behind by visual to provide. That's good stuff in that regard that I think we can get through the Senate would be very nice. I'm also happy to say that this week you know we have the the acceleration broadband Act. That's a part of the Move Forward Act again, which is designed to have money go directly to shovel ready projects that could be up and running in a matter of months closing out that last mile if you will, which we know is a real issue in our district so the money is there. the commitment is there the investment can be there. It's all about making sure we get this. Into the to the Senate and ultimately signed by the President so big issue, I certainly hear you loud and clear about it's importance and will continue to do the work in this space, let's see next. we have we're gonna have a Emily and the question posed by Emilys given how important health care is in general, but especially in this unprecedented times could you expand on your vision for the Medicare Xs Choice Act? On your website and I'm interested to learn more well. Emily I'm happy to tell you some more about the bill. you know we're the only developed country in the world that doesn't have some form of universal health care coverage. and what do I mean by that? I mean that unless you qualify for Medicaid or Medicare or Tricare you are entirely beholden to the whims of the private insurance marketplace, which is entirely driven by a profit and that is. Vast majority of Americans we have a lot of Americans who are essentially have to navigate through the private insurance marketplace, whereas other developed countries in the world have some way in which to ensure that you don't have to be beholden if you do not want to be to the private insurance marketplace and I think the Medicare Xs Choice Act provides the kind of off ramp you need to have to make sure that if you don't find the cost. Social with private insurance bearable Why not give folks a choice to opt into a public option, something like Medicare, which is a non-profit actor and that floor will bring down not only the cost of that individual Who's seeking coverage, but it also have an effect on the private insurance marketplace because right now, there is no public competitor in the private insurance marketplace. So you introduced the public competitor it'll bring down premiums that are bringing down deductibles and everybody benefits and everybody can access at that point affordable. so that's what the bill does keep in mind too. It also helps us if you are a small business owner you can begin over time director employees to utilize the public option so now as a private employer, you don't have to foot the bill per say directly at least or the cost Associated with not have the to the private insurance marketplace and if you are in an individual who's looking to not be changed to your employer by virtue of the health care provider, you have more. Because you now have a public option to rely on so there's a lot of good with my bill and I'm I'm happy that we were able to introduce it and hopefully you know as we work through the rest of the term and and beyond we could be in a position where this is the kind of build that folks can rally around so that we can achieve universal health care coverage. Doreen Can you update us on the effort to? some released absolutely ah before covered our farmers in our very farmers and particularly the particular really taken a beating ah when you factor rain ah the terrace factor that we are getting for a very long time U S MCA factor in the pricing ah dynamics which were not helpful for our farmers you factor rain consolidation in the growing On the economies of scale and big a corporate our farmers the vast majority of which are small family-owned farms have been getting squeezed out of the system and yet if they ultimately all get squeezed out of our district our way of life and one of the backbones or one of the engines to our local economy can be could come undone and so when I hear folks like Secretary, say things like we don't make it our business to help farmers who can't keep themselves and. On the one side, but then the other side you know put forward policies that prop up big corporate at the expense of small family farms. I have a problem with that and that's why we've been very busy both you know introducing legislation as I did with the family farmer relief, which is now law signed by the President and then also other bills to get you know milk in the school to make sure we have proper labeling of our milk to make sure it's not you know actually is. Which you see too much of that going on right now, I've introduced legislation I intend of legislation that's gonna help our farmers potentially be able to provide their product product to our schools and local businesses. so there's a lot of work that we have trying to do within my own shop and then, of course during the pandemic. we were front and Center of fighting for more relief for our farmers. I got nine point five billion dollars included in the Cares Act to go towards a direct relief to our farmers, which was ultimately rolled into the Corona virus Food Assistance program which is gonna make you know purchases and. Payments I should say to cover the losses that our farmers have experienced, I fought to get our farmers eligibility for the economic injury Disaster loan. I'm not sure why the SBA thought that was appropriate to exclude them in the first place, but they did and I let a letter with 80 - six of my colleagues bipartisan letter to get our farmers included in terms of eligibility on that front introduced legislation to get some critical debt forgiven for our farmers as well, I did that with the congressman Maloney so been a very very busy working This is a challenging time but to say the least, but we do think that we can continue to grow and build off the bills that we've introduced the heroes that act again. There's a number of good things would direct purchasing to assist our farmers as well and if we continue to build on that, I think we'll be in a in a good spot. The key is to make sure though that when we're talking about the see a program, the Corona Virus Food Assistance program and the farmers who are benefiting from that the pharma. In fact, benefit of the farmers that we want to benefit, you know we saw a lot of this going on during the tariffs when they were payments play out to farmers who are being impacted by the tariffs a lot of those payouts and a lot of that relief went to the big farmers and not enough went to the small family farms, which I think is a critical importance as we see to navigate through this through these waters so that's very very important for me. Valerie as. PP Loan forgiveness be looked into We need the PEP loan but still cannot hire or pay any employees due to no business, We are a small independent in in our business has not come back. Okay so Valerie we're trying to work with you on this. I think I've I've heard this issue and it's a very important one. You know there are a lot of small businesses like yours who can benefit from the loan but given the the The demands of the guidelines in place with regard to social distancing and just people still getting couple with the idea of interacting again it's hard for certain kinds of businesses to go back into business in a time in the fashion fashion that needs to remains of the PDP love ah and we know how much of a lifeline the PM has been to a lot a lot of employees and lot of employers so that's why we did extend the land of From eight weeks to 24 so through the end of the year and we also broke up the breakdown so that instead of having you know the vast majority of the loan have to be accounted for with employees you now, I think that the breakdown now from not mistaken is 6040 you now can use a lot of the loan to go towards rent and other expenses Associated with you know keeping your business afloat. So I wanna encourage you to seek to utilize the loan knowing that we have. These changes and they we have made these changes and it's a big big development for us so continue to look into the loan. I think we've made some good changes and if you've already applied for the loan for those who have and you're a small business and you're looking to get the opportunity to reapply, you know we're working on that as well. I do a bill that hopefully can allow that to happen so continue to watch that closely and we'll do what we can to make sure that that could become law. I will just fly the P program is still accepting new applications. My understanding is about a hundred and 30 billion dollars left in the program so if you can apply there are funds there and you certainly need to make sure that you pursue that Avenue. we definitely wanna help and if you're looking for more assistance, I reach out to my office at eight 4543293 zero eight 4543293 zero. Alright next up we have Remy. From Newports, and the question is. can you elaborate on the moving forward and it's progress so the moving forward is a bill that literally we're about to vote on in short order and it is the infrastructure bill it's a bill that is meant to really put us to modernize if you will our infrastructure needs we have for too long not not done the work to upgrade and by upgrade, I mean everything. Roads our bridges to our waste water management system to our broadband system, excuse me to our broadband system and do so in a way that you know it allows us to tackle the climate change crisis as well. It's great stuff in this bill that you know talks about upgrading the grid so they can take on more renewable energy sources. this is like expansion of renewable weatherization components a lot of good stuff in here that we try to invest revenue tax pay. Into to make sure that we can grow our economy from the ground up infrastructure to me is one of those areas that is Prime for bipartisanship and an area that we can really do a lot of good. if we get it right we are still operating on outdated outmoded means of infrastructure and it is imperative that we meet at the moment and this is a robust bill that seeks to do just that you know. I have some stuff like I said before included in this bill and I got additional. Expand bus routes and public transportation, which I know in our district being able to have that type of public transportation is gonna be a critical importance and so we're gonna continue to do this. We have the broadband legislation that's also included in this bill. Big big package that I hope you can gain some traction in the Senate once it passes the House today. and I believe we have one more question that I can take before I have to rush off and vote Is from Claire and Ellen given the passing given that passing the bill on the Senate is a big hurdle. How can a transformation of policing and just racial policies be passed? Aap well Claire. It's a very important question and we have to do better you know. the fact that we have we can get to a point. We're trying to meet the moment rally around the cause for a legislative answer I know that the House has put something forward. We think it's a serious bill that tries to do the work and and and and make real meaningful change. I think it's incumbent on the Senate to do right by the people and engage with the bill. you know, I know the Senate introduced the bill and we certainly can look at that too. But I think we do we have to come together here and figure out what can. and you know I you have to accept to some degree that you can't get everything you want and that's just the way it is where the first country but the issue like this where the Justice has been so delayed and and and the calls across the country have been so wide and loud. you know it's important that we do our best to meet the moment more so because. beyond just the fact that. That meeting, but also because the people who need to have confidence that the system that the government can respond to the will of the people and this is the moment where I feel like we in government need to show that we can respond to the will of the people and do right by these calls and so I'm certainly gonna continue to do all I can to elevate this conversation champion Be a champion for the bill and hopefully we can get something done in this place before the end. Of the year. unfortunately, it looks like I do have to wrap this up with the votes now being called I do wanna thank everyone. This was my first Facebook live town Hall. I hope it went well. I'll be honest. I don't know but I feel like I try to get a lot of answers out there for you and you know, give you as much information as you can. I miss doing the in-person town halls And do hope that at some point down the road they can recommence cuz I do take very seriously being accessible to everybody all across across the district all irrespective of party affiliation, and I wanna continue to do that work Daniel in and day out as you I think most of you know I did 35 town halls before the pandemic and I'd love to continue to keep that number growing. I just wanna remind folks a few. my Kingston Office number eight 4543293 zero eight 4543293 zero please you know if you have questions concerns you know we're here to help please reach out if you wanna make a phone appointment. we do have a phone appointment tool on the website Delgado dot House dot Gov Delgado dot House dot Gov. we have a covid- 19 resource guide on the website as well Again. Thank you all for tuning This afternoon my office will continue to be a resource moving forward the times are no doubt testing our country and testing our community, but I know that we know how to rally around each other and I have a lot of hope in this moment despite how divisive it can feel at times, I see a lot of us coming together and doing right by each other and I just wanna continue to urge you all to love your neighbor. love your community and love your country. God bless and. Be well.