In what political pundits say is one of the state’s most highly contested races this year, Marc Molinaro and Josh Riley both hope to represent New York’s 19th Congressional District, which encompasses Cortland County and stretches from Tompkins County east to the Massachusetts border.
Republican Molinaro, the current Dutchess County executive, and Democrat Riley, an Ithaca-based lawyer and former federal Senate attorney, see many of the same issues in District 19. Where they differ is their solutions.
Both candidates see inadequate childcare as a practical and economic problem.
“Simple access to childcare and access to quality child care is an enormous barrier, particularly to women in the workforce, but also for workers as a whole,” Molinaro said.
Molinaro would pursue policy to expand access to Medicaid and Medicare and address so-called benefit cliffs in programs like Head Start. “For families that are middle class, they just are above the Head Start capacity. But because it's a benefits cliff, making $1 over the limit means you don't qualify for access.”
Expanding the population Head Start serves to include more families will bring more financial resources to the program, he said.
“We’ve got to start in schools K-12 and our communities building the path for education to this workforce. Give dignity to this work,” Molinaro said.
“This is an issue that is particularly acute in Cortland County,” Riley said. “If we don’t have good childcare infrastructure, we hold back parents that want to work.”
“We need to attract more childcare providers. Provide additional incentives to go into that work,” he added. “Make sure they're getting good wages and benefits and the opportunity to be part of the middle class.”
Riley said he worked as a fellow with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to protect the Family and Medical Leave Act, which entitles parents to 12 weeks of family leave.
“Give families access to paid leave when they need it. Provide support to working families. Cut taxes for them instead of corrupt politicians giving big tax breaks to Wall Street,” he said.
Riley and Molinaro agreed the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated problems with internet access.
Riley said the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act could expand internet access in Cortland County. “The infrastructure law provides a once-in-a-generation $65 billion investment to build out high speed internet,” he said.
“I’m going to work really hard to make sure those funds get to Cortland County where they really need it,” he said. “We saw a digital divide in the pandemic. I see this as an issue of public health and economic development.”
Molinaro would like internet expansion to operate more like the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative “Use that as a model: that one grant for all components. The federal government will have to change how it does business for that to happen.”
Molinaro would also explore options outside of traditional broadband. “We ought to use all technologies available to us,” he said. “Make sure we’re not trying to do a one-size-fits-all solution because you won’t get 100% access that way.”
“In some parts of Cortland County, broadband makes sense. In other parts with rolling hills and valleys, satellite could be a good tool. In places where you are trying to navigate more remotely, radio might make sense,” he said.
Both candidates have watched jobs leave upstate New York in recent decades. And both agree it’s been by the hand of big business.
Molinaro said the federal government focuses on propping up big corporations.
“The federal government subsidizes big corporations. That's not development; that’s money laundering,” he said.
“They’re overlooking the medium and small businesses up here,” he said. “Those medium-size businesses produce 70% of the jobs. Give them the respect and support they need and they will grow.”
Molinaro would pursue federal policies on permitting and regulatory reform.
“I support making things in America and upstate New York,” Riley said.
“The economic challenges we face are the consequences of Democrats and Republicans selling us out and shipping our jobs overseas. I think we need to implement the CHIPS Act,” he said.
The CHIPS Act of 2022, was created to boost semiconductor production in the United States. He said announcements like Micron’s upcoming computer chip plant in Clay excite him.
“In our district, I'm excited about high tech opportunities: solar panels, lithium ion batteries, chip fabrication,” Riley said.
Riley and Molinaro agreed that opioid abuse is among the most pressing public health issues. .
“This is the public health crisis of our lifetime,” said Molinaro. He said he has spent every day of the last 11 years in Dutchess County building a community-based substance use treatment model that is being adopted across the state.
Molinaro said the nation needs a care system staffed by mental health providers capable of providing treatment 24/7. “You call 988 today and not everywhere has a 24/7 hotline. That’s important.”
Molinaro envisioned services able to meet those dealing with substance use in urban and rural areas. “The way you get there is to require insurance, Medicaid and Medicare to subsidize those services,” he said. “It might cost a little more in those systems, but it will save us nationwide.”
Riley would build on his past efforts to address opioid abuse. “I will do in Congress what I have worked on previously. Providing additional law enforcement funding,” he said.
“I worked on bipartisan legislation that got through a divided Senate and Republican-controlled house to provide law enforcement with crisis-intervention training,” Riley said. “That funding has had a big effect in upstate New York.”
