Congressman Delgado Comes To Town
By Thaddeus Flint
As one who doesn’t yet know all that much about our new Congressman, Anthony Delgado, it seemed like a good time to go down and learn more about him when Delgado’s office announced another Town Hall the Congressman would be hosting on August 26 in Stephentown.
Well, right off the bat someone asked about a possible impeachment of President Donald Trump. Congressman Delgado, who grew up “middle class,” he says, in Schenectady, and went to Notre Dame Bishop Gibbons High School, where such language is frowned upon sternly, said the correct path was to study “the facts” thoroughly before making any impeachment decisions that will likely end up in history books.
Delgado even had some small praise for President Trump, when it came to trade with China as well as NAFTA. “He diagnosed these correctly,” said Delgado, although he was not happy about much that has happened since, as Trump’s efforts to confront China about its trading practices has turned into a trade war that looks ominous for both countries.
Dale Riggs, of The Berry Patch in Stephentown, is one local businesswoman who has found herself having trouble in the farming business. Riggs uses legal non-immigrant laborers with H-2A visas on her farm due to the lack of Americans who will do the backbreaking work and still allow for an affordable strawberry. Since the Trump administration took over, she is down to 2 workers, she said, from ten. “We are being punished for doing the right thing,” Riggs told the Congressman.
There was no arguing about that from Delgado, who described the H-2A program as “flawed,” adding that the current political environment was creating “a culture of fear” when it came to migrants and immigrants alike.
Also, climate change isn’t helping the farmers either, Delgado said. The Congressman didn’t mince words when it comes to climate change. Part of the reason farms are having trouble is because the climate is changing. Between trade and tariffs and the crazy weather, said Delgado, “Our farmers are being squeezed out.” As a first step, his Family Farmer Relief Act, signed into law August 23, should provide some help to farmers in the meantime. But his Green Jobs and Opportunity Act, he said, is about looking for long-term solutions, “a roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050,” while at the same time updating the workforce to both achieve that and capitalize on it.
The Congressman responded to a question from a Stephentown resident about Title X money under President Trump. That’s federal money that funds family planning services – except it can’t be used anymore by a family planning service that provides abortion referrals. “I’m disgusted with it,” said Delgado about the new Title X Trump rule, calling it “an assault on women’s health.” Women in the United States, said the Congressman, are “devalued” throughout many aspects of life, from work to their bodies.”
The longer the Congressman spoke in Stephentown, the more he seemed like an intelligent man who thinks he can fix—or at least try to fix—some of the root problems that affect not only his District, but the Country as well. Can he do it? “There is some hope,” the Congressman assured residents at the end of his Town Hall. And maybe there is.
This was the third Town Hall Representative Delgado has held in Rensselaer County, the previous two having been in Poestenkill and Hoosick Falls.