Is Josh Riley Leading The Charge In Congress?
Across New York State’s 19th congressional district, grassroots resistance to the fascist government of Elon Musk and Donald Trump has been growing, with protesters taking to the streets week after week.
Protesters gathered in Ithaca yesterday, and though Congressman Josh Riley did not attend that gathering, he appeared in a short video played for the crowd. In that video, he said:
“I am leading the charge in Congress against the actions of unelected Elon Musk!”
The charge in Congress against the actions of Elon Musk. Has there been a charge in Congress against Elon Musk? Did I somehow miss the news?
No. Members of Congress have not organized any credible campaign of resistance to Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Josh Riley has signed his name to a couple of letters that were written by Democratic Party leaders. These letters complained about two specific manifestations of the general autocratic takeover of the federal government, while neglecting to address the bigger problem.
The letters have fallen on deaf ears. Elon Musk has been continuing his seizure of power, uninhibited by any letters sent by Democratic members of Congress, and sometimes in defiance of court orders.
Democracy in the United States is on the brink of destruction, as the Executive Branch, led by Elon Musk and Donald Trump, is refusing to obey the laws passed by Congress. This is a direct assault on the branch of government that Josh Riley was elected to, and which he has a duty to protect.
So, what concrete actions is Josh Riley taking to defend democracy and stop Elon Musk from taking over?
Not much, really. Riley has signed his name as cosponsor to two bills offering symbolic protest of a couple of Elon Musk’s maneuvers, and that’s nice. Honestly, it’s too nice.
These bills, H.R. 1101 and H.R. 1099, were introduced over two weeks ago. Since then, they have completely stalled. The legislation has been referred to the relevant congressional committees: the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Financial Services Committee, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Those committees are all controlled by Republicans who have expressed no intention even to allow the bills to be granted a hearing. They are dead on arrival.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump are continuing their campaign of destruction, defunding and closing down large parts of the federal government in violation of the law. They have sent agents into federal government offices, locked the doors, and hacked into government computer networks. They have purged the FBI and the military of their leadership, replacing them with Trump loyalists who have expressed their intention to use law enforcement and military power against Democratic politicians and grassroots protesters. Every day, they destroy more.
Meanwhile, the Democrats in Congress have introduced two dead bills and written two letters. They have held a couple of press conferences. They have posted a few videos on YouTube.
To be fair, there is very little that Democrats in Congress can do to stop the criminal seizure of power by Elon Musk and Donald Trump, given that congressional Republicans are meekly complying with Musk and Trump.
There is very little Democrats in Congress can do, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing they can do. Democrats in Congress could use procedural methods to slow down the fascist takeover of the federal government. They aren’t doing that. Josh Riley has even helped the Republican fascists to gain terrible new powers, voting in favor two of their most appalling bills, the Laken Riley Act and the attack on the International Criminal Court.
I will never forget, when I was younger, watching people around the world stand up against totalitarian regimes. I watched Germans tear down the Berlin Wall. I watched Chinese students in Tiananmen Square courageously stand, holding no weapons themselves, in the path of military tanks sent to attack their compatriots. I watched Filipinos rise up and march in the streets to force the dictator Ferdinand Marcos out of power, even though many protesters had been imprisoned, tortured, and killed for speaking out.
That’s what it looks like when people come together to lead the charge against totalitarianism. Those people put their liberty on the line. They put their lives on the line. They nonviolently stood against soldiers with guns for the chance to live in a democracy.
Now, as Elon Musk and Donald Trump are destroying American democracy, what is U.S. Representative Josh Riley doing?
In his most recent press release, Congressman Riley announced that he is setting up an Upstate Agricultural Advisory Board to give him advice on legislation related to agricultural policy.
In the abstract, creating an Upstate Agricultural Advisory Board is a good idea. In the context of what’s happening to American democracy, it is absolutely irrelevant.
In practice, American farmers are not getting the federal government assistance they are entitled to, because Elon Musk has decided to stop payments from the US Department of Agriculture, and fire the workers who process those payments.
In practice, Donald Trump has declared that he doesn’t need to comply with legislation passed by Congress. Trump has announced that he’s seizing the power to cut agricultural programs or redesign them according to his whims, regardless of what Congress does.
In this context, creating advisory boards to provide opinions about future agricultural legislation makes no sense at all. It’s like going shopping for new shower curtains while your house burns down.
Legislation on issues like agriculture matters, but these issues cannot be meaningfully addressed while the very system of democratic government that Congress is supposed to work with is not functioning. When laws passed by Congress are not being obeyed by the Executive Branch, what’s the point of passing new laws?
Josh Riley has, after weeks of silence, finally seemed to realize that voters in New York’s 19th congressional district are furious about the destruction of American democracy. His response, however, has not been honest. His video statements to voters contain bold claims of “leading the charge” against Elon Musk, but there is no such charge among members of Congress, and if there was, Josh Riley would certainly not be the person leading that charge.
Josh Riley isn’t being honest about the challenges our democracy is facing, or his role in facing those challenges.
This dishonest approach to communication from Josh Riley is also manifesting itself in the form of unnecessary exaggerations of his accomplishments on Capitol Hill.
Consider Josh Riley’s press release about H.R.1376 - the Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification Act. The headline from Congressman Riley’s office reads:
“Congressman Josh Riley Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Support Family Farmers, Bring Down Grocery Prices, and Stop the Spread of Avian Flu”
That sounds pretty impressive, for Josh Riley to introduce a new bipartisan bill to stop the spread of bird flu, which is decimating flocks of chickens across the country, causing extreme inflation of the price of eggs. Congressman Riley claims to be the leader of the effort to “stop the spread of avian flu”, with Riley claiming, “I’m proudly leading this bipartisan effort”.
The problem is that what Josh Riley says isn’t true.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying H.R. 1376 is bad legislation. It’s a perfectly nice little piece of legislation. However:
This legislation doesn’t do anything to stop the spread of bird flu. It would provide some expansion of existing federal government financial aid to chicken farmers who have lost their flocks due to bird flu.
Josh Riley did not introduce the bill. U.S. Representative Jim Costa did.
Josh Riley is not leading the effort to pass the bill. He’s following the leadership of others. Congressman Riley is merely one of eight cosponsors of the legislation.
Congressman Riley doesn’t even appear to have had a hand in the writing of H.R. 1376. The legislation is identical to a bill that was introduced in the U.S. House last summer, when Josh Riley wasn’t a member of Congress. That legislation failed to move forward even to the point of getting a committee hearing. It isn’t clear how the small number of representatives supporting the legislation aims to move it forward to a full vote on the House floor, given the overall dysfunction in Congress these days.
A similar dynamic exists with H.R. 1355 - the Weatherization Enhancement and Readiness Act. Josh Riley’s office has issued a press release under the title:
“Congressman Josh Riley Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Lower Energy Costs”
The press release brags that H.R. 1355 is “Riley’s first bill”, as if he came up with the legislation, wrote it, and organized a bipartisan coalition behind it.
Once again, Josh Riley’s depiction of his role in this legislation is not accurate.
The bill was not introduced by Josh Riley. It was introduced by U.S. Representative Paul Tonko, and Josh Riley is one of four cosponsors of the legislation.
The legislation is not new. It’s just a resubmitted version of a bill that Congressman Tonko introduced in three years ago, when the Democrats had control of the House of Representatives, and then again last summer, under Republican leadership. Both of those previous versions of the bill died in committee without even getting a hearing, much less moving forward to a vote on the floor of the U.S. House.
In no way is this Josh Riley’s bill. He’s supporting it, and that’s a good thing to do, but it’s not a great legislative accomplishment. He’s riding along on Paul Tonko’s coattails with a piece of legislation that is probably going nowhere.
The truth is that Josh Riley has not introduced any of his own legislation yet. The official web site of the Library of Congress currently shows Josh Riley as introducing zero bills in the U.S. House.
It’s not Josh Riley’s fault that H.R. 1355 and H.R. 1376 are going nowhere. It’s the fault of the purposeful dysfunction of the Republican-led Congress.
Furthermore, it’s not fair to expect Josh Riley to be a leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is in his second month of his first term in office. It’s perfectly normal for him not to have introduced any of his own legislation yet.
The thing is, these are not normal times. Elon Musk and Donald Trump are using the Republican control over all three branches of the federal government to launch an extreme assault on the foundations of American democracy itself. Musk and Trump are placing themselves above the law. They’re ignoring the Constitution. They’re attacking basic American freedoms and wrecking the representative government established by Congress. They’re doing so in order to establish a new form of fascist government to impose a set of extremist values that are profoundly out of touch with the values of the American people as a whole.
They’re threatening to annex Canada, to invade Panama and Greenland, and to conduct ethnic cleansing in Gaza. They’re promoting the restoration of Nazis to power in Germany. They’re destroying the will of the people as expressed through the US Congress. Musk and Trump ending the rule of law, and concentrating absolute power in their hands.
Abnormal times require a quality of leadership that is beyond what would normally be expected. Congressman Josh Riley doesn’t seem to comprehend this. He’s responding to a devastating attack on American democracy by co-sponsoring other politicians’ bills to tweak existing agricultural regulations.
These bills are, sadly, completely superfluous. They are highly unlikely to be passed into law, but even if they were passed into law, they would likely be overruled by Elon Musk’s DOGE, which is hacking apart existing congressional legislation in order to meet the anti-democratic whims of Elon Musk.
With all this going on, Congressman Riley says that he’s “leading the charge in Congress”, when he isn’t. He’s claiming to be introducing bills that aren’t even his, legislation that isn’t even new.
I think I understand why Josh Riley is communicating in this way. He’s in a new job in extraordinary times. He’s a minority-party newcomer to a legislative body that has never had less power.
None of this is Josh Riley’s fault.
What is Josh Riley’s fault is the way that he is responding.
Josh Riley isn’t being honest with his constituents.
Right now, honesty is one of the only things that is within Josh Riley’s power to provide to constituents.
Please, Congressman Riley. Stop bullshitting. We all know that it isn’t true. Drop the bluster. Stop the exaggerations and bragging. We don’t expect you to be a top leader in Congress. We expect you to tell the truth.
Congressman Josh Riley started off on the wrong foot. With his first two votes, he abandoned the Democratic voters who elected him. Josh Riley violated the trust of his constituents.
Given that context, any dishonesty is going to further alienate the people of New York’s 19th congressional district. We’re not stupid. We can tell when we’re being talked down to.
Claiming to be a leader when you’re not, claiming to have introduced legislation that you didn’t, is minor kind of dishonesty, but that’s what makes it so profoundly disappointing. It’s an unnecessary dishonesty. There is no good reason for these distortions and exaggerations.
Congressman Riley, please drop the act. The more bullshit we hear from you, the less likely we are to trust you when you have something important to say, and it’s essential in these dangerous times that we have a representative in Washington DC who we can trust.
We don’t expect you to be a great leader at the forefront of a Democratic Party resistance to Elon Musk and Donald Trump. All we expect is for you to show up as who you really are, and do what you can, given the limited tools you have, to deal with the national trauma that we’re going through right now.
No grandstanding. No puffery. No condescension.
There is serious work to be done, Congressman Riley. Please, get serious.
Congressman Josh Riley says he is leading the charge in Congress against Elon Musk.
In reality:
There is no charge in Congress against Elon Musk.
If there was such a charge, Josh Riley wouldn’t be its leader.