Hi John,

 

I spent a good part of the weekend preparing for the Judiciary Committee’s hearing with Special Counsel Mueller today -- but before it begins, I wanted to circle back to the survey my team sent out earlier this month. We reviewed your answers, and it seems that the people of PA-05 are looking for more justice, transparency, and legislative action from Washington. Here’s what you had to say:

 

On the issue of the humanitarian crisis at our southern border, 80% of you answered that our country needs to keep families together and ensure that children and refugees in U.S. custody are housed safely and treated with dignity. One response read, “Every legal avenue should be pursued to punish those responsible for the inhumane treatment of detainees.” The House Judiciary Committee just held a markup session for a bill addressing the shortcomings in our detention facilities and processing. I will continue to investigate the causes and solutions to alleviate the humanitarian crisis at our southern border and keep fighting to protect asylum seekers.

 

We also asked about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s failure to bring bills like the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 to a vote -- 90.3% of you said it’s extremely important, very important, or important to you that McConnell starts doing his job. If McConnell had Americans’ best interests in mind, he would bring legislation to the Senate floor so that we can take action together to prevents gun violence, lower prescription drug costs, and end pay inequality. Like you, I am concerned about Mitch’s “graveyard” -- all the bills that have and will die under his leadership, because he’s determined to block the progress we’ve made so far in the House, even those bills with bipartisan support!

 

On the subject of the Trump administration’s purposeful cover-up of information about the “possibly catastrophic” effects of man-made climate change, 80.4% of respondents indicated that they want more facts and transparency from the White House. And while Americans certainly deserve to know the truth about the climate crisis so that we may take bold action to protect our planet, we also need to remember the hard-working people in our energy sector -- both right here in PA-05 and across the country -- whose livelihoods are tied to those industries. I promise to continue fighting in Congress to make sure that whatever steps we take to address climate change will also protect our workers.

 

I’d like to leave you with one last thought before we sit down for our historic hearing with the Special Counsel. One participant wrote: “The corruption, dishonesty, and incompetence of this administration is horrifying. I hope that this can be stopped before it is too late, if it is not already.” That’s exactly what we’re hoping to accomplish. Nobody is above the law, not even the president, and I will continue to do everything that I can to protect the American people and our democracy.

 

-Mary Gay

 

P.S. If you didn’t already take the survey but would still like to share your thoughts on these and other issues with my team, please follow this link: https://s.surveyplanet.com/KsmvDPB42