Tom Reed

Despite Democrats’ backlash aimed at the expedited vetting process for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, believes the judge will get the simple majority he needs to become the newest justice.

Senate Democrats have protested during the judiciary committee’s first confirmation hearing for Kavanaugh. As a Bush-era White House lawyer, Kavanaugh brings with him a storied career that legislators wanted weeks to review. The Bush White House Library released 42,000 pages of documents Monday night, hours before the hearing began Tuesday morning.

In other news, Reed disagrees with President Donald Trump’s tweet regarding the indictment of Reps. Chris Collins, R-NY, and Duncan Hunter, R-CA, and said that the Congressmen should be held accountable for their charges of insider trading and misuse of campaign funds.

Trump asserted that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had the Justice Department bring about these charges during the midterm elections to jeopardize whether Republicans will maintain the seats of both Collins and Hunter. Trump said the indictments come from “Obama era” investigations when Collins’ investigation began at the end of Obama’s final term as president, with the indictment to follow in August.

Before giving his take on national politics, Reed shared that his involvement with The Climate Solutions Caucus has been successful in providing a bipartisan effort in the House of Representatives to tackle issues impacting climate. Reed said his goal is to balance a need for energy industry jobs and the costs of regulations protecting the environment.

In an initiative to protect the environment and promote an “all of the above” energy strategy in which all forms of nonrenewable and renewable energy are used, he said he has taken a “proactive lead” on energy tax credits.

“We’re proud of the legislation,” Reed said.

Reed also highlighted the importance of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative in its efforts to protect water bodies like Lake Erie.