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.
Social Security and Medicare represent a solemn promise to those who worked all their lives and paid into the system will retire with the dignity they deserve. While many in Congress believe we should cut benefits to save the system, I believe we should raise the cap at which the wealthiest among us stop paying into the system, and use those resources to increase the solvency of the system and increase benefits.
I also support provisions in the Affordable Care Act that provide free preventive care for seniors, save them money on prescription medication, and close the Medicare Part D “donut hole”.