To be sure, Rep. Nadler has every right to launch this investigation and ensure oversight of a coequal branch of government. I have confidence that the House Judiciary Committee will conduct a thorough and appropriate investigation to find all of the facts.
Nadler himself understood the nuances of launching a Congressional investigation following the Democrats’ victory in the 2018 midterm elections in terms of taking the most prudent path toward impeachment, if one even exists.
Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, questions witnesses during a hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Nadler escalated Democrats investigations of Donald Trump with sweeping demands Monday for information from scores of people on topics including the administrations activities, the presidents business and his potential ties to Russia. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg© 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP
“If you’re serious about removing a president from office, what you’re really doing is overturning the result of the last election,” Nadler said. “You don’t want to have a situation where you tear this country apart, and for the next 30 years half the country’s saying, ‘We won the election, you stole it.’”
Democrats across the country must heed this advice, as those up for reelection in Congress, and especially the Democrats running for President, simply cannot run on a platform of immediate impeachment and resisting the President at every step.
While this investigation is important, and it would be wise of President Trump and the White House to cooperate, it is equally important for Democrats to ensure that this sweeping investigation into the President of the United States does not become a partisan charade or conflict with the legitimacy of Robert Muller’s Special Counsel investigation.
Most importantly, Democrats cannot allow ongoing investigations to interfere with their legislative agenda. The American people elected them to govern, and it is time that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic caucus focuses on delivering the results they promised rather than relitigating the 2016 election.
While Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have passed 73 bills in the 116th Congress, just eight passed the senate and only six have become law. This is a dismal record particularly when there are so many legislative issues that have bipartisan support. Some of the most pertinent issues with broad support include securing the border while also protecting the young people who are in the United States without documentation through no fault of their own, lowering drug prices, and investing in rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.
On the issue of immigration, the past three months have made it perfectly clear that we must come to a bipartisan solution. A compromise that is widely supported by voters of both parties would be additional funds for border security in exchange for legal protections for young people who are living, studying, and working in the United States without documentation. According to a February Gallup poll, 81% of Americans support a path to citizenship for immigrants who lack documentation.
Another area with strong bipartisan support is the issue of drug pricing, and specifically lowering costs. We must continue to support bipartisan solutions that will help reduce prices, including increasing competition among drug manufacturers and reducing barriers of bringing new drugs to market.
Bipartisan reforms will work in this area, and rather than targeting the pharmaceutical industry, ad hominin, Democrats would be wise to promote the development of high-value drugs that improve patient outcomes and save lives.
In fact, an analysis performed by the Wall Street Journal found that 95% of the 74 cancer drugs released between 2011 and 2018 are available in the US. Meanwhile, only 74% of these drugs are available in the UK, 49% in Japan, and 8% in Greece.
Lastly, there may be no better opportunity or more critical place for bipartisan cooperation than infrastructure investment. It’s striking that both President Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 platforms include nearly identical infrastructure packages, similar to their 2016 campaigns.
Unfortunately, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said this week that an infrastructure bill is not likely this year because of funding disputes—a deeply troubling way to position the party just two and a half months into the new Congress.
From a strategic perspective, the Democrats must head into the 2020 election showing that they are the party of progress in Washington, not the party of endless investigations and political bickering. If Democrats delegitimize Robert Muller’s report or fail to advance an effective legislative agenda, they severely hinder their outlook for 2020 in the upcoming elections.
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Early last week, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Representative Jerry Nadler launched a comprehensive investigation into President Trump and his associates. Rep. Nadler sent out 81 letters demanding documents which indicates the broad scope of the new Congressional investigation.
To be sure, Rep. Nadler has every right to launch this investigation and ensure oversight of a coequal branch of government. I have confidence that the House Judiciary Committee will conduct a thorough and appropriate investigation to find all of the facts.
Nadler himself understood the nuances of launching a Congressional investigation following the Democrats’ victory in the 2018 midterm elections in terms of taking the most prudent path toward impeachment, if one even exists.
Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, questions witnesses during a hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. Nadler escalated Democrats investigations of Donald Trump with sweeping demands Monday for information from scores of people on topics including the administrations activities, the presidents business and his potential ties to Russia. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg© 2019 Bloomberg Finance LP
“If you’re serious about removing a president from office, what you’re really doing is overturning the result of the last election,” Nadler said. “You don’t want to have a situation where you tear this country apart, and for the next 30 years half the country’s saying, ‘We won the election, you stole it.’”
Democrats across the country must heed this advice, as those up for reelection in Congress, and especially the Democrats running for President, simply cannot run on a platform of immediate impeachment and resisting the President at every step.
While this investigation is important, and it would be wise of President Trump and the White House to cooperate, it is equally important for Democrats to ensure that this sweeping investigation into the President of the United States does not become a partisan charade or conflict with the legitimacy of Robert Muller’s Special Counsel investigation.
Most importantly, Democrats cannot allow ongoing investigations to interfere with their legislative agenda. The American people elected them to govern, and it is time that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic caucus focuses on delivering the results they promised rather than relitigating the 2016 election.
While Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats have passed 73 bills in the 116th Congress, just eight passed the senate and only six have become law. This is a dismal record particularly when there are so many legislative issues that have bipartisan support. Some of the most pertinent issues with broad support include securing the border while also protecting the young people who are in the United States without documentation through no fault of their own, lowering drug prices, and investing in rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.
On the issue of immigration, the past three months have made it perfectly clear that we must come to a bipartisan solution. A compromise that is widely supported by voters of both parties would be additional funds for border security in exchange for legal protections for young people who are living, studying, and working in the United States without documentation. According to a February Gallup poll, 81% of Americans support a path to citizenship for immigrants who lack documentation.
Another area with strong bipartisan support is the issue of drug pricing, and specifically lowering costs. We must continue to support bipartisan solutions that will help reduce prices, including increasing competition among drug manufacturers and reducing barriers of bringing new drugs to market.
Bipartisan reforms will work in this area, and rather than targeting the pharmaceutical industry, ad hominin, Democrats would be wise to promote the development of high-value drugs that improve patient outcomes and save lives.
In fact, an analysis performed by the Wall Street Journal found that 95% of the 74 cancer drugs released between 2011 and 2018 are available in the US. Meanwhile, only 74% of these drugs are available in the UK, 49% in Japan, and 8% in Greece.
Lastly, there may be no better opportunity or more critical place for bipartisan cooperation than infrastructure investment. It’s striking that both President Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 platforms include nearly identical infrastructure packages, similar to their 2016 campaigns.
Unfortunately, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said this week that an infrastructure bill is not likely this year because of funding disputes—a deeply troubling way to position the party just two and a half months into the new Congress.
From a strategic perspective, the Democrats must head into the 2020 election showing that they are the party of progress in Washington, not the party of endless investigations and political bickering. If Democrats delegitimize Robert Muller’s report or fail to advance an effective legislative agenda, they severely hinder their outlook for 2020 in the upcoming elections.
