Tom Reed

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) joined several of his Republican colleagues and even some Democrats on Tuesday to introduce a concurrent resolution to “censure the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, for attempting to unlawfully overturn the 2020 Presidential election and for violating his oath of office on January 6th, 2021.”

The Censure measure is being presented as an alternative to House Democrats’ effort to impeach the president for a second time on a single charge of “incitement of insurrection.”

The dueling resolutions are being presented less than one week after President Trump encouraged a mob of loyalists to “Stop the Steal” and “fight like hell” against election results. Soon after his speech, the U.S. Capitol became the target of a deadly siege that left five people dead, including a Capitol Police Officer and four Trump supporters.

While the first impeachment of Trump in 2019 brought no Republican votes in the House, a small number of leaders and other lawmakers are breaking with the party to join Democrats. But a majority of the Party – including Reed – say they won’t vote to impeach.

“If our leaders make the wrong decision in how to hold him accountable, it could damage the integrity of our system of justice, further fan the flames of division, and disillusion millions of Americans ─ all while failing to accomplish anything,” Reed said in an opinion piece published in the New York Times on Tuesday. “Given the tools that lie before Congress, it is clear that pursuing impeachment only days before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated is not the answer.”

Democrat and Republican Members of the U.S. Senate are convinced that the House’s impeachment efforts will almost certainly result in a second acquittal of President Trump, which even some Democrats say would even further divide and inflame tensions in our nation.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) stated, “…it is clear the 25th Amendment will not be invoked and that the Senate will not convict the president after impeachment. A censure resolution is the only way to send a bipartisan, bicameral message without delay to the country and the world that the United States is a nation of laws.”

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) also stated that the House’s current impeachment approach “is so ill-advised for Joe Biden to be coming in, trying to heal the country, trying to be the president of all the people when we are going to be so divided and fighting again.”

According to those who support censure, there are two constitutional purposes of impeachment: 1) removal from office, and 2) barring the future holding of office and the current approach being advanced by House leadership is certain to accomplish neither one of these. As a result, they are pushing instead for censure.

“[Censure] is an important step to hold the President accountable. Congress must make clear that it rejects extremism and condemns the President’s actions,” said Reed. “We will continue to push for Congressional leaders to work with us on investigating the events surrounding this dark period in our history and make sure it never happens again with the public’s trust in our democratic institutions restored.”

Meanwhile, the four-page impeachment resolution relies on Trump’s own incendiary rhetoric and the falsehoods he spread about Biden’s election victory, including organizing a White House rally on the same day Congress was to certify Biden’s election. Some of those who attended the rally also participated in the raid on the Capitol following Trump’s speech, and supporters of impeachment say the speech was intended to whip his supporters into a frenzy just as members of congress took up the certification issue.

The House tried first to push Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to intervene, passing a resolution Tuesday night calling on them to invoke the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove Trump from office. But Pence made it clear he would not do so. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Pence said it was “time to unite our country as we prepare to inaugurate President-elect Joe Biden.”

The President, meanwhile, insisted on Tuesday that he believes he bears no responsibility for the insurrection carried out by his supporters and has yet to explicitly call on them to refrain from launching another assault on the Capitol.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Chautauqua County’s representative in Congress says the Federal Tax cuts that were approved at the end of last year are paying dividends for rank and file workers, and he used a recent visit to the Jamestown Home Depot to make that point.

But as Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) was making the case that the tax cuts are helping everyday Americans at one department store chain, his counterparts on the other side of the aisle are demanding that another major retailer show evidence that the tax cuts are helping its employees.

This week’s Reed’s office sent out a media release stating that during a recent tour of the Home Depot, he heard the impact tax cuts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 have had on its employees. As part of the release, Reed’s office also said that businesses such as Home Depot and many others have given pay raises and bonuses thanks to the tax reform.

“Visiting places like Home Depot and talking with the employees is one of the best parts of the job,” Reed said. “Tax cuts have helped people, like the ones I met during my visit, keep real money in their paychecks and helped good-paying jobs to grow. This why we care about making these tax cuts permanent and feel it is the fair thing to do after hearing from people across our community.”

Rep. Tom Reed, standing with a group of employees, during a recent visit at Jamestown’s Home Depot.

Making the tax cuts permanent is the foundation of the “Tax Cuts 2.0” proposal that was rolled out by House Republicans earlier this month, which would make the 2017 tax cuts for individuals permanent. The proposal is viewed as an effort to highlight their signature economic policy achievement ahead of the November elections.

According to Reed, “Tax Cuts 2.0” will create an estimated 1.5 million new jobs, increase wages by 0.9 percent and boost the GDP an additional 2.2 percent. He said the proposal would also help local business provide retirement plans for employees, help workers participate in those retirement plans, and allow families to access their own retirement plans on a penalty-free basis when welcoming a new child – either by birth or adoption.

Still, with little chance of Senate Republicans taking up the measure, the effort is largely viewed as a way to promote political talking points.

13 HOUSE DEMOCRATS CALL ON WALMART TO SHOW HOW TAX CUTS BENEFIT WORKERS

Meanwhile, as Reed praised the GOP Tax Reform effort from a year ago, Democrats (including Brian Higgins who represented Chautauqua County until redistricting went into effect in 2012) are singing a different tune.

Congressman Brian Higgins

In a Sept. 13 letter sent to CEO Doug McMillon, 13 different house members pointed out that Walmart – the nations largest department store chain – authorized $20 billion in stock buybacks while many of its workers still make poverty wages.

The letter further calls attention to the 1,188-to-1 ratio between McMillon’s 2017 compensation and the average Walmart worker’s, stating “it is not clear how your corporation is using your expected $2.2 billion in annual tax cuts to help your more than 1.4 million workers in the U.S.”

The members are asking McMillon to respond to the letter and corresponding questions by no later than September 28, 2018.

The letter (posted in its entirety below) was signed by Higgins along with Reps. Jan Shakowsky (D-IL), Mark Pocan (D-WI), Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT), Gene Green (D-TX), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Bobby L. Rush (D-IL), Tim Ryan (D-OH), and Mark Takano (D-CA).

“Republicans spent their day trying to pass the #TaxScam2 through the Ways And Means committee,” tweeted Rep. Jan Shakowsky (D-IL) on Sept. 13. “Meanwhile, I, Rep. Mark Pocan, Rep. Raul Grijalva and several of our colleagues sent a letter to Walmart asking why their savings from the first #GOPTaxScam aren’t increasing wages.”

Prior to the letter’s submission, a group known as Making Change at Walmart (MCAW) provided members of congress with hundreds of testimonies from Walmart workers whose wages fall far below the company’s average claim of $13.75 an hour.

MCAW also provided testimony on wage stagnation at Walmart, as well as the negative impacts of Walmart’s inadequate benefits, irregular scheduling, and elimination of holiday pay.

“Almost immediately after the Trump tax cuts were approved, Walmart’s board sought to stuff the pockets of its shareholders by authorizing up to $20 billion in stock buybacks,” says MCAW communications director Amy Ritter. “Meanwhile, the company still has no long-term solutions to address the fact that many of their employees are struggling in poverty.”

LETTER FROM 13 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO WALMART CEO DOUG MCMILLON