In case you haven’t been following the news out of Washington, D.C. (and who could blame you?), Congress is in recess this week – and once again, Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-19th) is returning to his district with nothing to show his constituents. Molinaro and his MAGA buddies have spent over a year in control of the House of Representatives, and it’s been the least productive Congress in decades.
You might ask yourself – what has Molinaro actually been doing in Washington?
He’s been fighting Donald Trump’s political battles for him – and completely abandoning the people of Columbia County. Voters in New York’s 19th Congressional District sent Molinaro to Washington to tackle the real issues keeping us up at night. But rather than focusing on things like the economy, lowering health care costs, affordable housing, and border security, Molinaro is going along with the baseless impeachment efforts of President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
He hasn’t lifted a finger to get the bipartisan border security bill done, but this past February, he voted to impeach Secretary Mayorkas over the same exact border issues that House Republicans are refusing to address. He still supports the impeachment inquiry into President Biden even though House Republicans have no evidence and have admitted that they don’t have the votes for it. Molinaro would rather play politics than be a policymaker, and we’re losing out.
Imagine if that time and those taxpayer-funded resources were being used to make life better and easier for the American people, especially for those of us in Columbia County.
While the government was in danger of shutting down this month, Molinaro’s MAGA friends held yet another hearing on the baseless impeachment inquiry of President Biden, which was an embarrassing waste of time. The Republican witnesses were a convicted felon who literally testified remotely from prison and a Trump-aligned MAGA insider whose testimony has already been investigated and rejected by both the GOP-led Senate and the Trump-era Department of Justice. This is exactly what Molinaro voted for and supports.
It’s clear that Molinaro’s goal in Washington has always been playing politics rather than solving real problems. Republicans are not serious about passing bipartisan border security legislation; they just want Donald Trump to get re-elected. It’s really that simple. They truly don’t care about the people of Columbia County.
Molinaro was elected to Congress to represent us, not Donald Trump. It is far past time for him and his colleagues to move on from the baseless impeachment of President Biden and deal with real issues. For the first time since being elected to Congress, Molinaro should put people over politics.
Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s capable.
Sam Hodge, Chair,
Columbia County Democratic Committee
Claverack resident
