January 6 Hearings (Still Photo Courtesy of PBS)

The Associated Press reports the House panel investigating the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol laid the blame firmly on Donald Trump Thursday night, saying the assault was hardly spontaneous but an “attempted coup” and a direct result of the defeated president’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

With a never-before-seen 12-minute video of extremist groups leading the deadly siege and startling testimony from Trump’s most inner circle, the January 6th committee provided gripping detail in contending that Trump’s repeated lies about election fraud and his public effort to stop Joe Biden’s victory led to the attack and imperiled American democracy

The hearings may not change Americans’ views on the Capitol attack, but the panel’s investigation is intended to stand as its public record. Ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, and with Trump considering another White House run, the committee’s final report aims to account for the most violent attack on the Capitol since 1814, and to ensure such an attack never happens again.

Testimony showed Thursday how Trump desperately clung to his own false claims of election fraud, beckoning supporters to the Capitol on January 6 when Congress would certify the results, despite those around him insisting Biden had won the election.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr in videotaped testimony said: “I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen..”

In another videotaped interview, the former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, testified to the committee that she respected Barr’s view that there was no election fraud.

Others showed leaders of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys preparing to storm the Capitol to stand up for Trump. One rioter after another told the committee they came to the Capitol because Trump asked them to.

“President Trump summoned a violent mob,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the panel’s vice chair who took the lead for much of the hearing. “When a president fails to take the steps necessary to preserve our union — or worse, causes a constitutional crisis — we’re in a moment of maximum danger for our republic.”

There was an audible gasp in the hearing room when Cheney read an account that said when Trump was told the Capitol mob was chanting for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged for refusing to block the election results. Trump responded that maybe they were right, that he “deserves it.”

At another point it was disclosed that Republican Representative Scott Perry, a leader of efforts to object to the election results, had sought a pardon from Trump, which would protect him from prosecution.

When asked about the White House lawyers threatening to resign over what was happening in the administration, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner scoffed they were “whining.”

Police officers who had fought off the mob consoled one another as they sat in the committee room reliving the violence they faced on January 6.

The riot left more than 100 police officers injured, many beaten and bloodied, as the crowd of pro-Trump rioters, some armed with pipes, bats and bear spray, charged into the Capitol. At least nine people who were there died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police.

Biden, in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas, said many viewers were “going to be seeing for the first time a lot of the detail that occurred.”

Trump, unapologetic, dismissed the investigation anew — and even declared on social media that January 6 “represented the greatest movement in the history of our country.”

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee tweeted: “All. Old. News.”

Emotions are still raw at the Capitol, and security was tight. Law enforcement officials are reporting a spike in violent threats against members of Congress.

Against this backdrop, the committee was speaking to a divided America. Most TV networks carried the hearing live, but Fox News Channel did not.

Among those testifying was documentary maker Nick Quested, who filmed the Proud Boys storming the Capitol — along with a pivotal meeting between the group’s then-chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and another extremist group, the Oath Keepers, the night before in a nearby parking garage.

Court documents show that members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were discussing as early as November a need to fight to keep Trump in office. Leaders of both groups and some members have since been indicted on rare sedition charges over the military-style attack.

In the weeks ahead, the panel is expected to detail Trump’s public campaign to “Stop the Steal” and the private pressure he put on the Justice Department to reverse his election loss — despite dozens of failed court cases attesting there was no fraud on a scale that could have tipped the results in his favor.

The panel faced obstacles from its start. Republicans blocked the formation of an independent body that could have investigated the January 6 assault the way the 9/11 Commission probed the 2001 terror attack.

Instead, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ushered the creation of the 1/6 panel through Congress and rejected Republican-appointed lawmakers who had voted on January 6 against certifying the election results, eventually naming seven Democrats and two Republicans.

The Justice Department has arrested and charged more than 800 people for the violence that day, the biggest dragnet in its history.

Daniel Scavino, Peter Navarro

NPR reports the U.S. House voted Wednesday to hold former Trump White House aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in criminal contempt of Congress after they defied subpoenas from the select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

The move comes after the Democratic-led panel last month approved a contempt report against Navarro, the former trade adviser, and Scavino, a former deputy chief of staff.

The 220-203 floor vote, cast largely along party lines, triggers a series of steps to send the criminal referrals to the U.S. attorney’s office, leaving the Justice Department to decide whether it will pursue prosecution.

Congressman Tom Reed said in a weekly media call prior to the vote that he would not be supporting the vote. He said he voted for a bipartisan committee to investigate the January 6th attack on the Capitol and that’s not what was approved, “And once Speaker Pelosi elected not to recognize the Republican members that were elected to represent us on that committee, they went down this partisan path of the January 6 committee today. And as I look at this, that has contaminated this entire process and therefore I will not be supporting this sanction today.”

Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, the only two Republicans appointed to serve on the select committee, were the only two from their party to vote for the referral.
Wednesday’s floor vote marks the third for a criminal contempt referral effort tied to the January 6 committee’s work. Previously, the House has approved criminal referrals for ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon and former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

So far, the Justice Department has only pursued prosecution for one of those cases, Bannon, who is now battling related criminal charges.

In each case, a subpoenaed witness could face up a year in jail for each contempt charge, plus fines of up to $1,000 each.

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.

Vice President Mike Pence, who serves as president pro tem of the U.S. Senate, and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Joint Session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.

WASHINGTON – Congress has concluded its count of the electoral vote for the 2020 presidential election and has certified President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory.

The action occurred early Thursday morning and took place only after an historic day at the nation’s capitol in which a mob of individuals, identified as supporters of President Donald Trump, stormed the U.S. Capitol building Wednesday afternoon while congress was in session to disrupt certification proceedings that are part of the constitutional process for allowing a peaceful transfer of power at the White House.

Following Thursday’s morning certification by Congress, President Trump for the first time acknowledged his defeat in the November election and announced there would be an “orderly transition on January 20th.”

But Trump’s acknowledgement came only the certification vote was completed and also after he attended a rally near the Capitol, where he continued to urge supporters to fight the election results and encouraged them to march to the Capitol, using remarks that were peppered with incendiary language and rife with violent undertones.

Once the mob arrived at the Capitol, there wasn’t enough security on hand to keep the large group at bay and hundreds of people eventually rushed and entered the building and freely roamed the halls, ransacked offices, and took items and posed for pictures in the chambers of both the Senate and House of Representatives. Meanwhile, members of Congress, their staff, and media were ushered into a secure location in the basement of the Capitol out of fear for their safety.

During the chaos, one woman was shot and killed, and three others died due to what was described as medical emergencies. No elected representatives were reported to be injured.

After the mob was cleared from the building and the chaos was subdued, both chambers resumed proceedings early Wednesday night, and they continued until the business of the people was concluded early Thursday morning.

Sen. Chuck Schumer

Sen. Charles Schumer, who represents New York in the Senate and who is the current minority leader of the Democratic Party, spoke events that occured earlier in the day.

“I have never lived through or even imagined an experience like the one we have just witnessed in this Capitol,” Schumer said. “President Franklin Roosevelt set aside Dec. 7, 1941, as a day that will live in infamy. Unfortunately, we can now add Jan. 6, 2021, to that very short list of dates in American history that will live forever in infamy.”

Schumer also pulled no punches in blaming President Trump for the chaos.

“This will be a stain on our country not so easily washed away – the final, terrible, indelible legacy of the 45th president of the United States, undoubtedly our worst… Make no mistake, today’s events did not happen spontaneously. The president, who promoted conspiracy theories and motivated these thugs, the president who exhorted them to come to our nation’s capital, egged them on – he hardly ever discourages violence and more often encourages it – this president bears a great deal of the blame. This mob was in good part President Trump’s doing, incited by his words, his lies. This violence, in good part his responsibility, his ever-lasting shame. Today’s events certainly — certainly — would not have happened without him.”

Schumer also said that those who participated in storming the Capitol should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

“I want to be very clear: Those who performed these reprehensible acts cannot be called protesters – no, these were rioters and insurrectionists, goons and thugs, domestic terrorists. They do not represent America. They were a few thousand violent extremists who tried to take over the Capitol building and attack our democracy. They must and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law – hopefully by this administration, if not certainly by the next. They should be provided no leniency,” Schumer said.

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, Chautauqua County’s representative in Washington – Republican Congressman Tom Reed – also spoke out against the storming of the Capitol.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

“I come to this side of the aisle as a proud Republican, but most importantly, as a proud American,” Reed said as he moved from the Republican side of the House chamber to the Democratic side. “Today we saw an assault on our democracy. I love this institution. I love the United States Congress. And I love the United States of America. And what I saw today was mob rule that spat upon the blood of my father that is in the soil of Europe and in the soil of Korea. And who gave us that blood this sacred constitution and this sacred ability to lead this world as a power that says, we settle our differences not with mob rule, we settle our differences through elections. And when those elections are over, we have a peaceful transition of power.

Meanwhile, Trumps’ acknowledgement of losing the election also included a statement that may lead to additional unrest in the future, saying, “While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again.”

Trump’s statement was posted to Twitter by his social media director. His own account had been locked by the company for posting messages that appeared to justify the assault on the seat of the nation’s democracy. His Facebook and Instagram accounts were also locked from being used.

Trump’s response to the violence underscored his months-long obsession with trying to overturn the results of the election.

He has spent the final days of his presidency angrily stewing and lashing out at Republicans for perceived disloyalty while refusing to acknowledge his loss or concede.

The violence, coupled with the president’s tepid response, alarmed many in the White House and appeared to push Republicans allies to the breaking point after years of allegiance to Trump. According to the Associated Press, a number of White House aides were discussing a potential mass resignation, according to people familiar with the conversation. And others quickly departed. More departures were expected in the coming days, although other aides indicated they planned to stay to help smooth the transition to the Biden administration. And some harbored concerns about what Trump might do in his final two weeks in office if they were not there to serve as guardrails when so few remain.

Trump has been single-mindedly focused on his electoral defeat since Election Day, aides said, at the expense of the other responsibilities of his office, including the fight against the raging coronavirus. Indeed, it was Vice President Mike Pence, not Trump, who spoke with the acting defense secretary to discuss mobilizing the D.C National Guard on Wednesday afternoon.

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) held a conference call with media Wednesday to offer his thoughts on the effort to finalize and approve another COVID-19 stimulus bill.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

Reed said he’s holding out hope that negotiators would return to the table to continue to work on a compromise, despite an announcement by President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon, when he said negotiations were over until after the general election.

“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump tweeted, adding, “I have asked Mitch McConnell not to delay, but to instead focus full time on approving my outstanding nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett.”

However, Trump backpedaled on Wednesday, saying he would support a simple stimulus bill that would only provide a $1200 stimulus paying to all Americans, and/or a measure that would bring relief to the financially struggling airline industry. But Reed explained a simple bill would not be enough to help keep the economy afloat through the end of they year, given the various other sectors that have been struggling and unable to keep afloat, even for another three months.

Meanwhile, Reed added that he was “very concerned” when President Trump abruptly announced on Tuesday that negotiations are over and wouldn’t resume until after the elections take place.

But despite the abrupt announcement by Trump on Tuesday to back out of negotiations, Reed said he thinks both sides are very close to finalizing a deal and hoped they will return to the table to resume negotiations to finalize a package that would contain about $1.7 trillion dollars in new COVID relief. He may have gotten his wish. It’s been reported that both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who leads negotiations for the White House, resumed phone discussions about airline aid on Wednesday. And event President Trump acknowledged Thursday that stimulus negotiators are “starting to have some very productive talks,” just two days after his stunning decision to halt deliberations.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY 23) says a large number of lawmakers in Washington are throwing their support behind an effort to increase funding for an ongoing federal diabetes research and education program.

Diabetes has been a long-time focus for Reed, who is a recovering Type 2 diabetic and whose son has also been diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic. The area congressman serves along side Colorado Democrat Diana DeGette as the co-chairs of the Congressional Diabetes Caucus. On Tuesday, Reed said they are introducing bipartisan legislation to continue funding what is known as the Special Diabetes Program for an additional five years, and increase its annual funding from $150 million to $200 million a year.

“Much of this $200 million a year goes to programs that obviously address the needs of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics overall, but in particular there is a sub component of the Special Diabetes Program specifically designated for Native Americans, which provides funding to Indian Health Services to take on the issue of Type 2 diabetes in our Native American populations across America,” Reed said.

Reed said that 378 members of the House have signed on in support of the increased funding and a letter of support has been sent to both Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Meanwhile, the cost of insulin for diabetic Americans continues to be on the rise, forcing some to make tough decisions on how to pay for insulin while also trying to make ends meet.

WRFA asked Reed if Congress is working on addressing the ongoing issue of expensive insulin, and he said that some work is underway to reign in the expensive cost of insulin and other prescription drugs.

“On the other side of the diabetes caucus, over the last year-and-a-half to two years, we have taken specific actions to highlight the cost of insulin and the ever increasing cost of insulin. If you look at the drug-pricing debate that is taking place on the hill right now in regards to biologic patent reforms, you will see that insulin is the cornerstone of that debate of overall drug prices in America,” Reed noted.

Reed also said that if anyone in the district is having difficulty getting insulin to treat diabetes, they can reach out to his office and he will help them out through a current program being offered by insulin manufacturers.

“If anyone out there is in need of insulin, [my office] will put them in contact with these manufacturers directly so they can deliver to some of them – at insulin costs no greater than $20, $25 of a supply that they need. That type of behavioral change is something  I support and applaud and want to raise awareness of so we can do that instead of always looking toward a legislative tool. This is immediate. This is in existence today,” Reed said.

Congressman Tom Reed’s local office number in Jamestown is (716) 708-6369.

National headlines have recently taken on the issue of rising insulin costs, with some stories focusing on Americans having to go to Canada in order to get affordable insulin. Meanwhile, the attorney General of Kentucky announced this week his office will sue the nation’s three largest insulin providers due to the expensive costs.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

WASHINGTON – Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning, NY-23) continued his support of President Donald Trump Wednesday when it comes to the Mueller Report.

Last Thursday a redacted version of special investigator Robert Mueller’s report was made public. The bottom line of the report largely tracked the findings revealed in Attorney General William Barr’s four-page memo released last month. It said there was no collusion with Russia in that country’s meddling of the 2016 Presidential Election and no clear verdict on obstruction, although several examples of the administration not cooperating with investigators was also outlined.

But while Mueller stopped short of saying definitively that obstruction charges should be brought forward, he also indicated that such charges could be brought forward by Congress, not the Justice Department.

Last week Reed – who’s in the minority of the House since Democrats took over following the 2018 midterm elections – put out a statement upon the release of the report, saying it clearly showed there was no collusion and it’s now time to move on.

“Today the Mueller report was released, but the result remains the same — no Russian collusion. This should be celebrated,” Reed’s statement read on Thursday.  “Now it is time for our country to heal because all politics all the time is tearing our country apart and hurting real people. We must end this culture of division and work together on policies to help people.”

Reed’s statement made no mention of obstruction.

During a Conference call Wednesday with regional media, WRFA asked Reed his thoughts about the issues of obstruction that were found within the report and whether or not congress had an obligation to investigate.

“I understand my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, who are more interested in political motivations and overturning the election of 2016 with an impeachment proceeding, they’re going to continue this narrative on the obstruction charge.  That’s their prerogative and their right do so. But I don’t believe that’s going to be productive. I think the report was very clearly given Mueller’s conclusion and Attorney General Barr’s conclusion that obstruction and collusion is just not there. If you’re going to focus on this obstruction and impeachment as your priority in Congress, the American people are going to reject that,”  Reed responded.

Later in the interview Reed was pressed about the Mueller report actually finding ten examples of obstruction and that it was Congress, not the justice department, that should investigate.

“Congress doing oversight in regards to make sure the executive branch is held responsible, I have no objection with that, but to bring impeachment charges and overturn the will of the people that many of the folks in Congress want to do with the obstruction situation is just, to me, not prioritizing what the American people want us to focus on, and that’s problems their facing on a day-to-day basis,” Reed said.

Reed’s comments come as his Democratic colleagues in the house, who currently hold the majority, have pushed to further investigate the obstruction issue with some even say it’s time to begin impeach proceedings, although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stopped short on calling for those proceedings to begin.

The House of Representatives voted largely along party lines, 217-185, after GOP leaders framed the vote as a slap-back to Nancy Pelosi, who is poised to become House speaker on Jan. 3 and who had warned President Trump in a televised Oval Office meeting last week that he wouldn’t have the votes for the wall.

More than 800,000 federal workers will be facing furloughs or forced to work without pay if a resolution is not reached before funding expires at midnight Friday. The White House said the president will not travel to Florida today for the Christmas holiday if the government is shutting down.

Among those who voted for the revised bill that contains the wall funding was Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning) who represents Chautauqua County in the House.

In a statement, Reed said his vote wasn’t about politics but instead about keeping people safe.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

“This isn’t about politics. This about doing the right thing and securing our southern border so mothers can sleep in peace without fear of dangerous MS-13 gang members pouring into our country,” Reed said.

Despite Congressman Reed’s and other Republican’s concerns, available evidence on MS-13 suggests those fears are largely unfounded.

In March of this year, officials at every level of law enforcement told the New York Times that President Trump’s campaign against MS-13 was out of proportion with the threat it poses. The gang doesn’t appear to have the infrastructure or funding of a major international crime syndicate.

There’s also no evidence that the gang is growing as rapidly as the president suggests—or growing at all. By the Justice Department’s own count, there are roughly 10,000 members of MS-13 living in the United States today, roughly the same number as there were a decade ago.”

As part of his statement, Reed also said his vote was to keep government open, even though Democrats in the Senate have made it clear they would not support a bill that included money for a wall.

“I am proud to vote to keep our government open for the American people,” Reed said.

Congress had been on track to fund the government without the wall money but lurched Thursday when President Trump declared he would not sign a bill without that piece of funding. Conservatives wanted the president to keep fighting. They warn that “caving” on the president’s repeated wall promises could hurt his 2020 re-election chances, and other Republicans’ as well.

The government funding package, which includes nearly $8 billion in disaster aid for coastal hurricanes and California wildfires, now goes back to the Senate, where its prospects are grim amid strong opposition from Democrats. Sixty votes are needed to approve the bill there and Democratic leaders have made clear they will not budge on their opposition to the border wall that candidate Donald Trump campaigned on, saying Mexico would pay for it. Mexico has refused.

After two years of being blocked by the White House, Republican Leadership, and The Trump Organization at every turn, Democrats hope the new year will provide sunshine on such issues as foreign government spending at Trump properties, Trump’s foreign licensing deals, Trump administration ties to lobbyists and special interests, and spending by Trump’s charitable foundation.

Maryland congressman Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, is poised to take charge of the House Oversight Committee, which could seek Trump’s business tax returns and other company-related financial records.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s personal income taxes, which he withheld during the 2016 campaign and in his two years in office, are expected to be the purview of the House Ways and Means Committee because Internal Revenue Service law allows House and Senate tax-writing committees to request federal returns. Ranking Ways and Means Democrat, Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, has signaled publicly he would ask for them — a move the White House might fight.

Chautauqua County’s representative in Congress, Tom Reed (R-Corning) won reelection this week and is a member of the Ways and Means Committee. WRFA asked him his thoughts about the subpoena power the Democrats will have in the House now that they are in power.

Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning)

“Having oversight an investigative oversight in the house is appropriate. If they’re investigating legitimate concerns and not playing politics, hopefully that’s the course that they will pursue,” Reed said. “What I’m very concerned about is if they turn this into a political circus and they use it for political point scoring, all of a sudden that’s going to add to an even more difficult environment in DC to get things done.”

Reed also commented on House leadership and who the new speaker would be. Many speculate that person will be former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Reed says that’s not a given.

“Looking at the candidates and the members on the other side of the aisle that have stated publicly they do not want to see Nancy Pelosi as speaker, I think with a ten-seat majority that is going to be very difficult for her to have the votes on the floor of the House,” Reed said. “I don’t know how 40-50 people running for office  on the Democratic side saying they would not support Nancy Pelosi and that they need new leadership for speaker can then turn their backs on their word to their constituents and vote for Nancy Pelosi. So I think they are going to have a contentious battle over there but at the end of the day, I’m willing to work with anybody who’s willing to reform these rules and start legislating. So let’s see who steps forward and hopefully it’s a breath of fresh air on the Democratic side.”

Reed, who is co-chair of the House Problem Solvers Caucus, is referring to proposed rules changes that group brought forward in July that it says will reward openness and transparency, encourage a willingness to reach across the aisle, create debate on divisive issues, and empower lawmakers to find real solutions concerning our nation’s most pressing matters. The package includes — among others — proposals to give fast-track priority consideration to bipartisan legislation and guarantees markups on bipartisan legislation from every Member of Congress.

As for alternatives to Pelosi, Reed said  he would support Democrat Steny Hoyer of Maryland, who currently serves as the House minority whip and has voiced support for the rules changes brought forward by the Problem Solvers.

The next session of Congress, which begins in January 2019, will mark the first extended period of time Reed has been part of the minority party since first being elected in 2010, when Republicans took control of the House as part of that year’s Mid-Term elections.

Eddie Sundquist

JAMESTOWN – Democratic Congressional candidate Eddie Sundquist of Jamestown says if elected to congress, he would not support keeping Nancy Pelosi in a leadership vote. Sundquist made his statement Thursday via a news release, saying he believes there is a need for a new generation of leadership in Congress.

Pelosi not only serves as the current minority leader, but in the past had served as the first female speaker of the House.

Sundquist also said its time for a new caucus in Congress that focuses squarely on building political power for real change in order to confront the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Sundquist is one of five Democrats in the 23^rd Congressional District seeking the party’s nomination in a June 26 primary. The winner will move on to face incumbent Congressman Tom Reed, a republican from Corning who’s served in the house since 2010.