These are important questions which cannot be truly answered in the 500 character limit set by the League of Women Voters. The following are Congressman Lynch’s full answers to the questions posed by the League.
- What are the top two priorities for your constituents? How do you determine what the most important issues are for your constituents?
The first priority right now for everyone is staying safe and healthy during the pandemic.
Following the President’s disastrous decision to leave it up to individual states to deal with a global pandemic, and the total unpreparedness of our federal biodefense stockpile, I personally worked my relationships with suppliers to get over 20,000 N95 face masks, thousands of protective face shields and disinfectant to nurses, doctors, nursing homes, first responders and health care providers in towns and cities across the 8th District.
I also introduced the Strategic National Stockpile Enhancement and Transparency Act. This bill will improve our federal response by creating a national biodefense stockpile network with real time blockchain inventory to ensure that nurses, health care professionals and first responders have the personal protective equipment and the critical supplies to do their jobs safely.
Additionally, my colleagues and I secured an initial $7.8 million to community health centers for increased testing, and passed the HEROES Act to provide additional funding for our community health centers, and community hospitals which are stretched thin in the best of times taking care of our most vulnerable population.
Second, many of my constituents are grappling with unemployment as well as food and housing insecurity. While I cosponsored the CARES Act, which made gig workers eligible for unemployment and added $600 to benefit amounts, I am continuing to fight for extending unemployment benefits until January and to get funding to families and local businesses.
I have been in constant contact with our local mayors, community leaders, business, healthcare providers and social service organizations to make sure we are delivering federal funding to the programs and small businesses that help people who are facing these challenges. In the first CARES act, we were successful in securing over $24 million in HUD emergency shelter and services for the homeless and $1.9 million for rental assistance for people with disabilities. I will continue to make sure that any government funding focuses on getting relief to those who need it most.
I determine the issues most important to my constituents by listening to the people I represent. My first priority has always been to be in the cities and towns of the 8th CD, talking with the people I serve. I have personally visited and/or contacted my local hospitals, VA hospitals and health centers to assess the situation in person. Despite the pandemic, I have been able to attend a dozen regular Town Meetings in the past 2 months. When I can’t be home and around the district, I keep in regular contact with my mayors and local and state officials who have partnered with me as we work to respond to this crisis.
- What specific steps do you plan to take to lower medical costs, improve outcomes, and strengthen access to quality medical care for all Americans? How would this be funded?
Clearly, the one glaring weakness in the Affordable Care Act is that it failed to make health care affordable. So, I believe we need to fulfill the promise of the Affordable Health Care Act, by making health care truly affordable. That must include a state-sponsored public option that will offer low cost plans to help drive down costs, and force insurance companies to compete. Most of all, the public option gives everyone the choice to sign up for the public plan or keep the insurance they have.
By my continued support for major improvements to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including enhancing and expanding Medicaid benefits and reducing the costs of prescription drugs, we can make a huge difference. Through my support for the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which would authorize the negotiation of discounted prescription drug prices for Medicare, I am continuing to fight for the necessary changes that move us toward the promise of the original ACA to provide affordable, accessible quality health care to everyone.
Today about 157 million Americans have private health care insurance through their employer. Most of them rated their plans as good or excellent. But only 10 million people signed up for the ACA during the most recent enrollment period. We need to develop a plan for everyone. There must be a basic public option that everyone can afford. And for those who are unable to pay, the government must continue to provide government-funded insurance.
The key to any system is its viability. The estimated tax increases necessary to fund the proposed Medicare For All/Single Payer models are estimated between 20 and 30 percent. Meanwhile, those funding estimates do not include funding for cutting-edge research on our most pressing health challenges, which is primarily funded by private enterprise.
3. What would be your two top budget priorities as a
member of Congress and why?
I. The HEROES Act. In the near term, right now our budget must focus on: 1. Protecting Americans from the health impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, while fast tracking vaccine research and development; 2. Helping the American people and local businesses withstand and survive the economic disruption of this pandemic that has eliminated millions of jobs; and, 3. Stabilizing our state and local economies by temporarily replacing the tax revenue to fund the salaries of nurses, teachers, firefighters and police while offering local small businesses a life-line for survival until a vaccine can be developed and widely distributed.
The HEROES Act, which I have sponsored and which the House passed two months ago, would provide $3 Trillion to accomplish those 3 goals. We are currently negotiating with the Senate.
II. The Transportation Bill. As a member of the House Transportation Committee, I sit on three key subcommittees, the Aviation Subcommittee, the Rail, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, and the Subcommittee on Water and the Environment.
As a result, I have had a significant role in shaping and passing the recent Surface Transportation Bill (Moving America Forward Act) and the Water Resources Development Act. Together these two bills will provide several Trillion dollars for rebuilding our infrastructure including MBTA, Commuter Rail, AMTRAK and thousands of structurally deficient bridges across the country. These bills are the greenest, environmentally-sensitive versions ever passed by Congress.
We have even expanded the definition of transportation infrastructure to include broadband for the first time, which will help improve remote learning opportunities in rural school districts in the midst of this pandemic. I have been able to include major amendments to address the needs of our District, from Zero Emission buses for Brockton and Boston, to climate change resiliency measures from Quincy and Weymouth to Hull and to Scituate.
Every town and city in our Congressional District will benefit from these bills and from others that we are currently drafting.
I have also worked with my colleagues across Massachusetts to champion their priorities as well. It is important to remember that the Transportation and WRDA bills will put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our resiliency to climate change, and expanding broadband capacity at the very moment when we will be gradually and prudently reopening the economy. These are the right bills at the right time.
4. How can you, as a member of Congress, help
guarantee full access to voting for all voting-age citizens?
During my time in Congress, I have been a steady supporter of voting rights legislation, and we have seen a renewed interest in restoring and preserving voter protections in the last few years.
By working with states to expand vote by mail and early voting, we will give those who, because of work or other circumstances, have not been able to cast a ballot on Election Day.
We need to focus on those areas and populations that have faced systematic disenfranchisement through intimidation, discrimination or language barrier to ensure each person feels safe, comfortable and heard when they go to the polls.
Furthermore, we need to make sure that those who are currently serving our country overseas have the ability to vote, which is why I introduced the Digital Overseas Voting Act. The bill will require all U.S. States and Territories to allow ballots from service members and citizens living overseas to be cast by email, fax or regular mail.
In addition to the Digital Overseas Voting Act, a few of the key initiatives I have worked on include H.R. 1, the “For The People” Act which addresses the integrity of our voting systems after the 2018 attacks by Russian hackers.
More recently, I worked with Rep. James Clyburn and Rep. John Lewis on H.R. 4, the Voting Rights Enhancement Act, which focuses on areas where discrimination has occurred in the past. Incidentally, following Rep. Lewis’ passing, we met to talk about renaming H.R. 4 as the Rep. John R. Lewis Act – I think it would be an entirely appropriate tribute to our dear friend and colleague.
We authorized an additional $800 million in federal funds to help the states with early voting and vote by mail expenses in the Help America Vote Act. And just a few months ago we added an additional $400 million for state vote by mail efforts in the CARES Act.
Lastly, just about 8 weeks ago in the Democratic House version of the HEROES Act, we provided $3.6 billion for early voting and vote by mail programs and we provided $25 billion to the United States Postal Service in order to handle the added costs of a vote by mail system.
We need to do more and do better to make sure every single voter, regardless of their age, background, ethnicity, or economic status, or location has the opportunity to vote. We need to more actively remove the barriers that prevent people from exercising their rights.
These are all issues that are not new, but in today’s political climate have been highlighted, and need to be addressed. Side by side with my colleagues in Washington, I will work to address these barriers and fight to ensure each and every person has the opportunity to vote.
Every person counts and every vote matters. These are the fundamental principles of this country and we need to ensure these principles are met.
What legislation would you propose to end systemic racism?
It would be great if we could just pass a law to end racism – I wish it were that easy. I think we need to change the way people think and feel about race. I think we need to change people’s hearts.
To begin with, we white people need to listen, really listen. While I have attended 8 of the recent George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests, marches and vigils in my District – and have been invited to speak at many of them, I found it most helpful to just listen. Listen to the young people. They are the new abolitionists and they have a righteous message.
Second, we all need to reflect on how we can change ourselves and our society. It is us who must change.
Third, we need to act. We need to move this country legislatively and evolve socially.
There is not one answer. There is not one solution. Systematic racism is woven into so many issues from voting to health care to criminal justice to pay equity to housing. We all have work to do.
The murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and so many others are a wake-up call that yet again we need to do better. And we need to do more. Everyone in this country is entitled to equal rights under the law, and sadly we have consistently fallen short.
After participating in local protests and vigils around the district, after talking with and listening to a lot of young people, constituents, local officials, police chiefs and members of the law enforcement community, I returned to Washington, I stood with my colleagues Reps. John Lewis and Maxine Waters and Hakeem Jeffries and my friends from the Congressional Black Caucus as an original co-sponsor of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to reform our policing and criminal justice laws.
This legislation is incredibly important but it is only the first step to fighting the racism that permeates our county. And, I will be there every step of the way to move our nation forward together.
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