Daylight Saving Time

But a bill has been re-introduced in Congress that could eliminate that.

Last year, Florida Senator Marco Rubio introduced the Sunshine Protection Act. The bill unanimously passed through the Senate but stalled in the House amid questions over whether year-round daylight saving time was actually safe or healthy.

That included the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, who called for the U.S. to stay on permanent standard time.

However, a bipartisan group of Senators including Marco Rubio recently re-introduced the Act to make Daylight Saving Time permanent.

At the state level, a pair of bills is in the New York State Assembly and Senate that seek to make DST permanent for New York. Both bills, which were filed in the current legislative session, are pending in committee.

Daylight Saving Time was first introduced in 1918 as an energy conservation effort, shifting more daylight to the end of the day and less at the start.

The new Sunshine Protection Act is similar to the bill introduced last year. If passed, the clocks would change for the final time this Sunday and not change again in November, or ever again.

Doing so would also mean we would lose an hour of daylight in the morning from November through February. For example, the sun typically rises around 7:15 a.m. and sets around 4:30 p.m. on the first day of winter in New York City. Permanent daylight saving time would change sunrise to 8:15 a.m. and sunset to 5:30 p.m.

With Sunday’s “spring forward,” it’s also recommended that people test and change batteries in their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

Senator Chuck Schumer holds up letter he has sent to major railroad companies (March 7, 2023)

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is demanding answers from major rail companies just as Norfolk Southern released a six-point safety plan Monday four weeks after the toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

Norfolk-Southern said their six-point plan is based on the preliminary findings of the National Transportation Safety Board as they continue investigating the derailment.

The February 3 derailment caused a fire and sent a cloud of smoke over the town, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate while railroad crews drained and burned off toxic chemicals. It has prompted calls in Congress to pass new railroad safety legislation.

While the NTSB’s investigation is ongoing, the agency has determined a wheel bearing was in the final stage of overheat failure before the crash.

Schumer outlined some of the 10 points of his letter to Norfolk Southern, CSX, and the other major railroads in a media call, “What notification do you provide to the state and local responders and now, more importantly, what changes will you make with notification in light of the recent derailment in Ohio? Two, how will you ensure local responders have the appropriate resources to respond to a train derailment? It’s not the railroads that have to respond, but local first responders.”

Schumer has requested a response to his letter within 30 days.

A bipartisan railway safety bill by the senators from Ohio would boost safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials, call for more frequent inspections of rail cars, increase fines for safety violations and greenlight $27 million to examine possible other safety improvements.

The bill would also require more frequent use of sensors that detect overheated wheel bearings.

Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern’s CEO Alan Shaw has agreed to testify on the Ohio train derailment before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday, March 9.

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Congressman Tom Reed talks with regional media during his weekly conference call. He discusses immigration legislation along with several other issues involving the district and the country.

Tom Reed

Congressman Tom Reed talks with regional media during his weekly conference call. During his call, he discusses and fields questions about the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan COVID stimulus bill, along with other topics as well.

Tom Reed

WASHINGTON – The House of Representatives finalized a massive $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Wednesday. It will head to President Biden’s desk for his first legislative victory.

The vote was 220 to 211 in the House. No Republicans voted “yes” on the legislation that Democrats say is needed to crush the pandemic, rebuild the economy and to lift children out of poverty.

The so-called “American Rescue Plan” calls for $1,400 stimulus checks for individuals earning up to $75,000 and $2,800 checks for couples earning $150,000 or under.

Households will receive an additional $1,400 for each dependent child.  For the unemployed, the legislation extends $300-per-week enhanced federal benefits through Sept. 6.

The legislation also establishes a “child allowance” worth upwards of $300 per month for each child under the age of six, or $3,600 a year.  For older children up to age 17, families would get $3,000 a year in the new child tax credit program.

JAMESTOWN – As the effort to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package continues in Washington, Chautauqua County’s representative says it appears Democrats, who control both chambers of Congress, are no longer interested in finding a compromise with Republicans.

Tom Reed

During a conference call Wednesday morning with regional media, Congressman Tom Reed said that Democrats are taking a partisan path in getting the package passed.

“There’s really no sincere outreach any longer to the Republican side to try to come up with a bipartisan, more targeted, more reasonable package. It is clear to me, talking to the folks on the other side, that they are committed to going down a partisan path,” Reed said.

Reed also said he is happy to see an estimated $350 billion in funding for state and local governments, but he is also concerned that will give Albany an excuse to reduce state funding.

“I know what Gov. Cuomo is going to do. I know the deal has already been struck and it frustrates the heck out of me. They’re going to give these big checks to local governments, and then Gov. Cuomo and the other governors are going to reduce their local aid and their state budget by a corresponding, if not more, amount,” Reed said.

Reed, who is a member of the House Ways and Means committee, began working Wednesday with that panel to pass several mark ups for the COVID spending plan, including a proposal to temporarily increase tax credits for workers and families to help provide relief on the income tax front. However, he held off on saying if he favored such moves until he could read the specific language for the proposal.

Meanwhile, according to the Albany Times Union, New York could receive as much as $23 billion in federal aid to state and local governments from the coronavirus relief bill. The House version of the bill allocates $12.7 billion for New York’s state government and $10.6 billion to county, city and town government.

A congressional aide, who spoke to the Times Union on the condition of anonymity to share details on unfinished legislation, said the estimates are the maximum New York governments should expect and when the Senate finishes its version, the final tallies could drop.

Asked about the forthcoming aid, Gov. Cuomo reiterated his claim Wednesday that it’s not enough and state government needs at least $15 billion to avoid budget cuts.

Congressman Tom Reed talks with regional media to discuss the recent GOP Congressional Caucus meeting involving the selection of leadership positions for the new congress, as well as whether or not to take action against embattled Republican Congresswoman Margorie Taylor Green. Reed also responded to recent comments made by the Cuomo administration, after he and other members of New York’s Republican Delegation called on the US Attorney General’s Office to investigate Cuomo’s nursing home policies…. among other issues as well.

Tom Reed

Congressman Tom Reed talks with regional media to share his thoughts on upcoming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden while also answering questions from the media.

Tom Reed

Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) talks with regional media to share his thoughts on the impeachment of President Donald Trump while also answering questions from the media.

Tom Reed

Donald Trump

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has been impeached for a second time, now becoming the only U.S. President to hold that dubious distinction.

On Wednesday members of the House sped to a vote on impeachment just a week after president Trump encouraged supporters to “fight like hell” against the November election results, and then a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. The impeachment also comes just one week before his term is set to end and President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

Late Wednesday afternoon the House voted 232-197 to impeach Trump, with 10 Republicans joining the vast majority of Democrats in the effort.  During debate on the articles of impeachment, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) asked Republicans and Democrats to “search their souls” ahead of the historic afternoon vote.

“We know that we faced enemies to the Constitution. We know that we experienced the insurrections that violated the sanctity of the People’s capitol and attempted to overturn the duly recorded will of the American People. And we know that the President of the United States incited this insurrection, this armed rebellion, against our common country. He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation that we all love,” Pelosi said.

Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) also spoke and admonished those who participated in the raid, saying violence is never a legitimate form of protest. And while he didn’t support the impeachment effort, he did acknowledge that it was the supporters of the president – and not anyone else – who was to blame for the raid.

“Some say the riots were caused by Antifa. There is absolutely no evidence of that and Conservatives should be the first to say so,” McCarthy said.

Tom Reed

While many members of the House did speak during the lengthy debate on Wednesday, local Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) did not. But he did hold a press call with regional media on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

“There have been numerous other issues that I’ve been attending to as we speak and my comments on impeachment have been widely reported and widely known, so I don’t anticipate I will be given floor comments on this issue,” he told Reporters on Wednesday, less than two hours before the impeachment vote took place.

The New York Times published an op/ed by Reed on Tuesday, where he called for the censure of the president, rather than impeachment. He said he was against impeachment because he knew it would be a rushed process with just seven days remaining in the president’s term.

“I think snap impeachment is not the way to go and not substantively the right thing to do in regards to not having an investigation, not respecting due process rights, and not respecting and debating the issues of Constitutional free speech that is involved here. And also the division and anger that is being exacerbated by this snap impeachment can not be underestimated,” Reed said.

The impeachment proceedings came one week after a violent, pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol, sending lawmakers into hiding and hindering the nation’s long history of peaceful transfers of power.  The riot has also forced a reckoning among some Republicans, who have stood by Trump throughout his presidency and largely allowed him to spread false attacks against the integrity of the 2020 election.

The impeachment in the House now leads to a trial in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required to remove the president from office.

Trump has been at this point before. The House impeached him in late 2019 for his pressure campaign on Ukraine and the Senate ultimately voted to acquit after quickly rushing through the trial process without calling any witnesses.  This time, the trial process is expected to be far more extensive with Democrats controlling the Senate.

Even if found guilty, the actual removal of Trump is highly unlikely before the Jan. 20 inauguration of Biden. But some say that the Senate trial – whenever it takes place – is still necessary in order to lay out all the evidence against the President and his alleged involvement in the insurrection and putting it on the public, and historic, record. A guilty verdict could also lead to Trump never being able to hold office again.