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Paul David Tonko is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for New York's 20th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Tonko has focused on various issues including healthcare, renewable energy, and infrastructure. He has been an advocate for policies aimed at addressing climate change and improving public health. Tonko previously served in the New York State Assembly from 1983 to 2007, where he held the position of Assembly Majority Leader from 2005 to 2007.
I demand a recorded vote. A recorded vote was ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. This will be a 5-minute vote. The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--ayes 195, noes 234, not voting 6, as follows: [Roll No. 286] AYES--195…
I look forward to hearing from additional witnesses on this very important topic.
State governments, institutions, businesses and private individuals are organizing to meet the challenges and opportunities of climate change. For example, experts from New York State's land-grant college, Cornell University, have…
Absolutely. When you talk about roads and bridges, my home county of Montgomery, New York, in my district, was host to a terrible bridge collapse. We commemorated in 2012 the 25th anniversary of the collapse of a thruway bridge that took…
As hurricane season begins this week, there is no better time for Congress to refocus its efforts on better protecting our coastline communities and the more than 123 million people that live in them from extreme weather events. In the…
You know, we're not. And I think it's, again, that belief, that sense that we can accomplish; as you were talking about, those early, early days from our humble beginnings. I was reminded of the event this weekend in my district in…
Well, you talk about the challenges that we have out there, and you've listed what I think is a very aggressive agenda but a doable agenda; and I think to reinforce the doability of it, the acceptability of it, perhaps we just need to…
Representative Garamendi, thank you for leading us in this hour discussion focusing on jobs--from a manufacturing sector, jobs from an investment. They come about in an investment in research, R&D, and they come about through innovation…
Absolutely. I was at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and we saw what public-private matches were about. We were able to deal with the ideas economy. We came up with new ways to harness energy, to create energy…
Sure. The wordsmithing that you talk about is so critical. The addition of language that clarifies or specifically states ``made in America'' as an outcome, very critical to the legislation. And two things were happening. The wordsmithing…
Sure. Even the data compilation there, the research that's done with the weather patterns, putting together data that's compiled that are very compelling bits of information allow us to grow back smarter. If we're just going to rebuild…
Yes. And we have to be real about this. We have to take into mind and heart the situations out there. And to just simply rebuild and ignore the facts, if there's increased precipitation over the last 20 years, markedly so, discernibly…
I thank the gentleman from California. Mr. Chairman, we are once again debating a bill that, thankfully, will go no further than this House. Even if you support the pipeline, this bill is the wrong approach to build it. This bill elevates…
I thank the gentleman from Colorado. I oppose the rule and the underlying legislation. I submitted two amendments to the committee; I regret that neither was made in order. One--rejected by the Republican majority--would have protected…
President Obama expressed concerns with the cyber legislation recently considered in the House because of privacy and civil liberties issues.
Critical infrastructure represents a wide range of industries, and interestingly, many fall under the jurisdiction of E&C.
Our farms and ranches produce food products in amounts that greatly exceed our nutritional needs. There is no reason for anyone in this country to go hungry. And yet, that is a daily reality faced by many poor families. The food stamp…
the basic policy behind Superfund is that polluters should pay for their pollution.
Not a single witness gave unqualified support to the bills we are examining today.
So then what problems would arise if Congress did indeed lift this bar and allowed judicial review of cleanup remedies?
We also received testimony last week that a responsible party could have a financial incentive to go to court to delay cleanup.
I appreciate your willingness to accommodate the desire of the subcommittee members to hear from witnesses about the current status of this program.
Politicians like Paul Tonko
