Congressman Paul Tonko represents New York’s 20th Congressional District, including the communities of Albany, Schenectady, Troy, Saratoga Springs and Amsterdam. He represents all of Albany and Schenectady Counties and parts of Montgomery, Rensselaer and Saratoga Counties.
He is serving his seventh term, after first being sworn into Congress in 2009.
Paul serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the oldest standing committee in the House, created in December of 1795. He is the first Upstate New York Democratic member to serve on the committee since Leo O'Brien, who resigned the post in October 1966. He was elected by his peers in the 116th Congress to chair the Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change. He was also selected to continue his service on the Science, Space and Technology Committee, as well as on the Natural Resources Committee.
In 2010, five judges on the Supreme Court remade American politics into a new system where the richest among us have the loudest voices and the most influence. That's not how this country became the best in the world, and it's certainly not a system that will help us overcome the many challenges before us today.
We should be a government of the many, not the money. I will continue to work in Congress with both parties to pass commonsense legislation that will level the political playing field between billionaires and the middle class.
I have cosponsored the Government By the People Act, which encourages working families to play a larger role in our electoral politics, and empowers them to have their voices heard. I have also cosponsored a proposed Constitutional amendment that would give Congress the tools it needs to make campaign finance laws and strike down Citizens United.