CARSON, CA - Congress is now full-fledged into this impeachment thing with hearings and testimonies lined up to speak up about possible corruption that President Donald Trump may have been involved in. How does that affect Culver City and local jurisdictions? Well, local lawmakers sent to Capitol Hill to represent them, are adding their two cents into this issue.
Rep. Karen Bass (D-37), who represents Culver City, has thrown her voice into the fire on the matter.
“For the last month, the House Judiciary Committee has been engaged in an impeachment investigation,” Bass said in a statement released earlier this year. “Now, combined with the leadership of the Speaker and our committee chairs, this body is moving in lockstep towards a common goal.”
“Ever since Trump set foot in the Oval Office, he has been on a mission to rip apart decades of policies that protect civil rights, the environment, public lands and more,” Bass added. “He has embarrassed our nation in the eyes of the world with his regular display of ignorance of treaties and historic alliances along with his horrific treatment of families and violation of international laws at our borders. It is time for a formal impeachment inquiry against this lawless and unstable President.”
Then there is Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-43) who has not been shy in her opinions about President Trump.
“I rise in support of H. Res. 660, and the process set forth within it by which the impeachment inquiry will continue to be conducted,” Waters said in regards to her support of the House of Representatives conducting an impeachment inquiry.
Congresswoman Nannette Diaz Barragan brought her voice to the nation’s healthcare woes and impeachment talk of President Donald Trump to Stenson Park in Carson on Saturday, Nov. 2. Barreagan, who represents cities such as Carson, San Pedro and Wilmington and other parts of Los Angeles County in her 44th District, made her appearance at Stenson Park as part of a community town hall event at the park’s gymnasium.
Barragan’s chief starting point centered on the growing debt the country has been besieged by other media outlets.
“The debt has exploded under this administration,” Barragan said. “When President [Barack] Obama handed it off, this economy, it was in great shape. The debt exploded after this alleged tax cut. I don’t know about you, but I had to pay $5,000 this year in taxes, the first time that I’ve ever had to pay more money. That tax benefit went to the top one percent of corporations. So we have exploded the debt to benefit the wealthiest. Instead of exploding the debt, if you’re going to do it, provide all of us with healthcare, provide us all with education.”
In September, Barragan introduced a bill that would help bring attention of health disparities that people of color experience.
“As a representative of a majority-minority district, I know how imperative it is to lower the barriers of health disparities among communities of color,” said. Barragán. “This bill will allow more eligible institutions to conduct groundbreaking research to expand access to healthcare for underserved communities like ours in California’s 44th District.”
Healthcare was one of the driving forces behind the town hall, but from a national and global perspective, the impeachment discussion around No. 45, has exploded on Capitol Hill. The House of Representatives, one form of the United States Congress, is in the midst of an impeachment inquiry of President Trump over a variety of issues.
Barragan informed her constituents that what is happening now in Washington, D.C. is not a full-fledged impeachment but it is a formal process that might wind up that way. The House of Representatives took up a vote to formalize impeachment proceedings against President Trump in a 232-196 vote in October.
“This vote was not to say our we impeaching the President? It is not a vote to say, Do you want to impeach the President? What this vote was-this vote was on the process,” Barragan said. “This was a bill to outlay a process to a fair and full and open transparent hearings on the impeachment inquiry. So Congress is in the process now of having witnesses come in, to depose witnesses, to get information. All those transcripts will be released to the public and to their committees. And then they’re going to start open hearings.”
The most notable unethical act by President Trump is that he has been allegedly bribing a foreign government (Ukraine) for political dirt on former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential frontrunner. Not releasing his tax returns and possibility using the Trump brand to benefit his family and himself, is something that Barragan highlighted during her nearly two-hour speaking engagement.
“You can’t make money off of being President of the United States,” Barragan said. “Let’s say you have a hotel and you have everybody staying there and now you’re making all kinds of money off of that. You shouldn’t be making money off being a President. And so, this is to divest interest. I thought we should have had this debate back then because of this President trying to change the rules. I have been pretty vocal on this issue. I have supported having the inquiry. I have supported the debate on impeachment. I frankly believe there’s enough evidence out there to impeach...If this isn’t enough, I don’t know what is. Do we have to wait and see somebody shoot somebody on 5th Avenue to say, ‘Okay now?’ It’s crazy.”
The majority of the audience was one that encompassed of mostly middle-aged and senior citizens.
“The reality is that this got escalated when a whistleblower filed a complaint about something about he or she heard on conversations that the President was having with other foreign leaders.” Barragan said. “In this instance, it was with the president of Ukraine. During that call, President Trump effectively was asking the president of the Ukraine for some assistance, to investigate the Bidens, his political opponent. He used this very clear language. He said, ‘Would you do us a favor?’ It is language like this that have led others, including myself, to basically call this out.”
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