Paul David Tonko ( ; born June 18, 1949) is an American politician serving as the
U.S. representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
for since 2013. He represented the
21st congressional district from 2009 to 2013. A member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, Tonko has been called a staunch progressive. After the 2020 redistricting cycle and effective for the
118th Congress
The 118th United States Congress is the next meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It is scheduled to meet in Washington ...
, the 20th district will include all of
Albany County,
Saratoga County
Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popul ...
and
Schenectady County, as well as part of
Rensselaer County
Rensselaer County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,130. Its county seat is Troy. The county is named in honor of the family of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original Dutch owner of the ...
.
From 1983 to 2007, Tonko represented the 105th district in the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
. He was appointed to serve as president and CEO of the
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority from 2007 until his resignation in April 2008. Soon afterward, he declared his candidacy for Congress, and was elected in November 2008.
Tonko chairs the
House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change in the
117th Congress. Since 2013, he has been the highest-ranking Democrat on the panel, which authorizes, oversees and investigates the
Environmental Protection Agency
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
(EPA).
Early life, education and early career
Tonko is a lifelong resident of
Amsterdam, New York
Amsterdam is a city in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 18,219. The city is named after Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
The City of Amsterdam is surrounded on the northern, eastern ...
, near
Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, and is of primarily Polish descent. He graduated from Amsterdam's Wilbur H. Lynch High School in 1967, and received a degree in
mechanical
Mechanical may refer to:
Machine
* Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement
* Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...
and
industrial engineering
Industrial engineering is an engineering profession that is concerned with the optimization of complex process (engineering), processes, systems, or organizations by developing, improving and implementing integrated systems of people, money, kno ...
from
Clarkson University
Clarkson University is a private research university with its main campus in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in the New York Capital Region and Beacon, New York. It was founded in 1896 and has an enr ...
in
Potsdam, New York
Potsdam ( moh, Tsi tewate’nehtararénies) is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The town population was 14,901 at the 2020 census. The ZIP Code is 13676. When SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University are in session, the popul ...
in 1971.
An engineer for the
New York Public Service Commission
The New York Public Service Commission is the public utilities commission of the New York state government that regulates and oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries in New York as part of the Department of Public Ser ...
, Tonko became active in local politics in the early 1970s and successfully ran for the
Montgomery County Board of Supervisors. He was a member of the board from 1976 to 1983,
and the board's chairman from 1981 to 1983. Tonko was the youngest person in county history to be elected to the board of supervisors.
New York State Assembly (1983–2007)
In January 1983, Assemblywoman
Gail S. Shaffer resigned her 105th district seat to take office as
Secretary of State of New York
The secretary of state of New York is a cabinet officer in the government of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York who leads the New York State Department of State, Department of State (NYSDOS).
The current secretary of state of New York ...
. The Democratic Party, as well as the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, nominated Tonko to contest an April 12 special election for the seat against former
Schoharie County Clerk Eugene Hallock, the Republican and
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
nominee. Tonko defeated Hallock in a close race. Tonko was reelected 13 times, serving in the Assembly until 2007.
While in the Assembly, Tonko served as chair of the Energy Committee from 1992 until his departure from the Assembly in 2007. He was also a member of standing committees on Agriculture, Transportation and Education, where he was the original sponsor and a chief proponent of the College Tuition Savings Program that was signed into law in 1997.
Tonko sponsored Timothy's Law, a 2006 law that requires health insurers to cover mental health treatment. He also sponsored the
Northeast Dairy Compact,
and chaired the Legislative Commission on Rural Resources,
Tonko resigned his Assembly seat in June 2007 to become President and CEO of the
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
U.S. House of Representatives (2009–present)
Elections
2008
On April 25, 2008, Tonko stepped down from his position at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority after ten-term Democratic Congressman
Michael McNulty
Michael Robert McNulty (born September 16, 1947) is a retired American politician from the U.S. state of New York. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1989 to 2009 representing New York's Capital District and was chair ...
announced his upcoming retirement from Congress. He subsequently entered the race to succeed McNulty in the 21st district. Tonko won the Democratic primary on September 9, defeating four other candidates.
In the November 4 general election, Tonko defeated Republican Schenectady County Legislator James Buhrmaster by a decisive margin. According to the ''Times Union'', "Tonko's name recognition ... accomplishment in the Legislature, such as the passage of mental health parity legislation, and his record" contributed to his win.
[Standforth, Lauren, and Carol Demare, "Tonko cruises to win in 21st Congressional District: Democrat goes to D.C. with handy win over Buhrmaster", November 5, 2008, found a]
Election coverage
. Retrieved November 5, 2008. He had effectively clinched a seat in Congress in the primary; the 21st had long been the only safe Democratic district in the state outside the New York City, Buffalo and Rochester areas.
2010–present
Tonko ran for reelection on the Democratic, Working Families and Independence Party lines. He was challenged by Republican and Conservative Party nominee Ted Danz, a former United States Navy Reservist and small business owner in the cooling and heating business. Tonko raised almost $980,000, and spent almost $780,000 on his campaign; Danz raised about $44,000 and spent about $42,000 on his campaign.
[Race profile](_blank)
at ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Accessed December 20, 2010. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' rated the seat "Solid Democratic", with a "99.8%" to "100% chance" that Tonko would win.
The major issues in the 2010 race were Tonko's votes for
Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Presid ...
, the Stimulus Package (
ARRA), and the Energy Bill.
The ''
Albany Times Union
The ''Times Union'' is an American daily newspaper, serving the Capital Region of New York. Although the newspaper focuses on Albany and its suburbs, it covers all parts of the four-county area, including the cities of Troy, Schenectady and Sar ...
'' endorsed Tonko, citing "a way of thinking and speaking like the engineer that he once was" and his support of the economic stimulus bill and health care bills. Tonko won the November 2 general election, 124,889 votes to 85,752.
Redistricting saw Tonko's district renumbered the 20th district. It lost much of its more rural territory to the west. To make up for the loss in population, it was pushed further into
Saratoga County
Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popul ...
. The new 20th was no less Democratic than the old 21st, and Tonko defeated Bob Dieterich in 2012, Jim Fischer in 2014, and Joe Vitollo in 2016 and 2018. He defeated Liz Joy in 2020 and 2022.
Tenure
Tonko was one of the 19 most liberal House members, according to the ''
National Journal
''National Journal'' is an advisory services company based in Washington, D.C., offering services in government affairs, advocacy communications, stakeholder mapping, and policy brands research for government and business leaders. It publishes da ...
'', for 2011.
When he entered Congress, Tonko said he wanted to focus on the issue he said he knows best—energy policy.
He sponsored a bill to create an $800 million research program in
wind energy
Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
technologies, which would benefit
GE in his district. He also wanted to create a research program to improve the efficiency of
gas turbines
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...
used in power generation systems that convert heat into energy. In 2010, Tonko got a provision in a House-passed bill, following the
BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, to prevent future spills and help small businesses in spill research. In 2011, he sponsored an amendment seeking to protect the
Environmental Protection Agency
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
's authority to regulate carbon emissions.
Tonko praised the 2011 State of the Union address, saying, "the President set out a bold agenda for our nation, an agenda that will focus on growing our economy, growing jobs, and growing opportunity for the middle class".
He has also often warned of the threat that Obamacare's repeal would pose to small businesses, young people, and seniors.
Tonko has worked to raise awareness about the region's waterways, chiefly the
Hudson
Hudson may refer to:
People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Henry Hudson, English explorer
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...
and
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
*Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
*Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...
rivers, and the effects of flooding after
Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene was a large and destructive tropical cyclone which affected much of the Caribbean and East Coast of the United States during late August 2011. The ninth named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 2011 At ...
. Seeking a comprehensive flood mitigation and economic development strategy, Tonko introduced the Hudson-Mohawk Basin Act in 2012.
Tonko became a prominent opponent of the
Trans Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, was a highly contested proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singa ...
(TPP) in 2015, citing American trade deficits and the use of child labor by at least four countries that had already signed the pact as among his reasons for opposing the deal.
In 2017, Tonko was one of three Catholic politicians whom Bishop
Edward Bernard Scharfenberger
Edward Bernard Scharfenberger (born May 29, 1948) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as the tenth bishop of the Diocese of Albany in Upstate New York since 2014.
Biography
Early life and education
Scharfe ...
of Albany publicly rebuked for participating in a rally supporting
Planned Parenthood
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reve ...
.
In January 2019, Tonko—a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee—was named chair of that committee's Subcommittee on the Environment and Climate Change.
On October 1, 2020, Tonko co-signed a letter to Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo
Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...
that condemned
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
’s offensive operations against the
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
-populated enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh ( ) is a landlocked country, landlocked region in the Transcaucasia, South Caucasus, within the mountainous range of Karabakh, lying between Lower Karabakh and Syunik Province, Syunik, and covering the southeastern range o ...
, denounced
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
’s role in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaij ...
, and criticized "false equivalence between Armenia and Azerbaijan, even as the latter threatens war and refuses to agree to monitoring along the line of contact."
In 2022, Tonko was instrumental in passing provisions contained in the
CHIPS and Science Act
The CHIPS and Science Act is a U.S. federal statute enacted by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 9, 2022. The act provides roughly $280 billion in new funding to boost domestic research ...
PL 117-167 into law.
Committee assignments
*
Committee on Energy and Commerce
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
**
Subcommittee on Environment & Climate Change (Chair)
**
Subcommittee on Energy
**
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
*
Committee on Science, Space & Technology
**
Subcommittee on Research and Technology
*
Committee on Natural Resources
**
Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
Caucus memberships
Tonko is a member of more than 65 House caucuses. Below is a small sample of his memberships:
*
Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus (Vice Chair)
*Bicameral Congressional Caucus on Parkinson's Disease
*Bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Alzheimer's disease
*Congressional Army Caucus
*
Congressional Arts Caucus
The Congressional Arts Caucus is a registered Congressional Member Organization for the US House of Representatives in the 115th Congress.
History
The Congressional Arts Caucus was created in the 1980s as a way for the various members of Congres ...
*
Congressional Biomass Caucus
*Heritage Corridor Caucus
*Congressional Safe Climate Caucus
*Congressional Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Equality Caucus
*Congressional Mental Health Caucus
*Congressional Voting Rights Caucus
*House Manufacturing Caucus
*House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus
*
House Baltic Caucus
*
Medicare for All Caucus
*
Blue Collar Caucus
See also
*
Energy law
Energy laws govern the use and taxation of energy, both renewable energy, renewable and non-renewable energy, non-renewable. These laws are the primary authority, primary authorities (such as caselaw, statutes, rules, regulations and edicts) re ...
References
External links
Congressman Paul D. Tonkoofficial U.S. House website
Paul Tonko for Congress*
*
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, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tonko, Paul D.
1949 births
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
American politicians of Polish descent
Clarkson University alumni
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
Living people
Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly
People from Amsterdam, New York
Catholics from New York (state)