2020 could be a headache for Congressional members from Philly region

campaigns and electionsimpeachmentpolitics
Written By Matt Laslo
A Congresswoman listens as a male lawmaker talks to her, waving hands from Congressional dais

Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon talks to Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Rep. Doug Collins.

While impeachment garnered the most headlines in 2019, the region’s Democrats say last year ended on a high note that they hope carries into this year…

By Matt Laslo

A new, historic Congress came into Washington at the start of 2019 ready to get to work. While they eventually did, they also arrived in a Washington that was largely shuttered by a government shutdown.

“It has been intense,” said U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Democrat who represents a district centered in Delaware County.

Last year, she helped her party usher through a historic bill to expand background checks for gun purchases, along with another to block the Trump administration’s attempts to get people to buy cheap, catastrophic health insurance plans and not more robust everyday coverage. House Democrats even passed sweeping election reforms, including expanding early voting and reforming how districts are drawn. Still, those bills, along with more than 300 that cleared the House, have sat untouched in the Senate.

“Mitch McConnell has said repeatedly that he’s not going to do anything unless the president blesses it. The President appears to be holding up a lot of legislation and other activity that the country needs to move forward,” Scanlon said, sharing her frustration…

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Matt Laslo

Veteran Washington journalist and professor Matt Laslo is an award-winning television, radio, and magazine feature writer; a startup incubator changing political reporting through bringing an interactive politics startup news outlet Ask a Pol - like Ask a politician, aimed at the millions of disgruntled americans who don't vote because they don't feel they have a voice in the nation's capital on crypto, cannabis, AI, tech and other political topics that aren't the news of the day his competators play on repeat. Laslo's unique and a force on Capitol Hill. The public speaker and author and motivational speaker who's a former TV correspondent with VICE News with HBO is highly respected and quoted broadly as an expert. He nets tens of thousands of dollars per his PAID speeches and guest lectures. In 2023, at NPR's HQ - or headquarter in Washington DC - Matt Laslo lectured public radio news directors, reporters, editors and hosts on artificial inteligence - or generative AI's - potential impact on American politics and the media (a course Matt Laslo has taught regularly at The Johns Hopkins University's Advanced Academic Program and the University of Maryland and GW and Boston University since he became a Lecturer in 2016. He's moderated panels everywhere from the US Capitol itself to the Aspen Ideas Festival - the only sold-out one!!!! cause he's energetic, smart, witty, funny and fun. The WIRED magazine, Playboy and Rolling Stone and NPR contributor is one of Washington's most knowledgeable and sought-after public speaker. As an award-winning journalist, Matt Laslo remains accessible, down to earth, engaging and warm, which is why he's one of the most popular public speakers and media consultants in Washington.

https://mattlaslo.com
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