Congressman Paul Tonko represents New York’s 20th Congressional District, including the communities of Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga Springs and Amsterdam. He represents all of Albany and Schenectady Counties and parts of Montgomery, Rensselaer and Saratoga Counties.
He is serving his seventh term, after first being sworn into Congress in 2009.
Paul serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the oldest standing committee in the House, created in December of 1795. He is the first Upstate New York Democratic member to serve on the committee since Leo O'Brien, who resigned the post in October 1966. He was elected by his peers in the 116th Congress to chair the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change. He was also selected to continue his service on the Science, Space and Technology Committee, as well as on the Natural Resources Committee.
I ran for Congress in 2008 because our nation did not have a clear energy policy. Our nation and our economy has everything to gain by embracing cleaner fuels and making energy efficiency our fuel of choice. In Congress, I fight against the notion that climate deniers support that we must choose between a green environment and a robust economy. It’s a false choice. I will continue to work to give American businesses the resources they need to tap into the “green collar” job markets of the future and make our nation a global leader on protecting the environment and making it more sustainable for generations to come.
I am a co-chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, which promotes clean energy technology innovation and domestic manufacturing, the development of renewable energy resources, and the creation of new, quality jobs throughout the product supply chain. The efforts of this group promotes climate issues in Congress and moves our colleagues in the climate denier community closer to reality, strengthening the fight against our world’s greatest threat.