Following Obama’s victory and the Democratic takeover of Congress, however, he has taken on the role of
lightning rod for opposition by the conservative right and Tea Bag movement. Bishop
has been a strong proponent of health care reform and while he orginally supported the public option he understands the critical
importance of taking a positive incremental step in securing affordable health care for all Americans. Thus, not surprisingly, Tim’s first town hall meeting on health care was one of the first ones targeted
by the Baggers. Rather than engage in civil discussion of the issues, they were there in force with the express intent to
shout him down and disrupt the discourse (see Health Care Debacle). And despite their negative intentions and personal abuse Tim listened
politely, tried to calmly address their concerns and invited all who could not make it inside the huge auditorium to come
to his office to present their views face to face. Tim Bishop has more class
in his pinky than the entire Tea Bag movement combined.
As a strong and loyal supporter of science in general and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL, located in his
district) in particular – and thus of specific interest to me - Tim helped
lobby for several important large improvement projects at BNL and secure the largest amount of stimulous funding of any NY
congressional district. Much of this support went toward much needed science
and technology infrastructure at BNL. Tim is a founding member of the Sustainable
Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), a focused, action-based caucus in the House of Representatives. He was one of just
33 House members to receive a perfect rating from the environmental lobby organization, the League of Conservation Voters
for:
·
passing the Energy Independence Security
Act which raised the fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks to 35 mpg and will save more than 1.1 million barrels
of oil per day and significantly reduce global warming pollution
· adoption of a Congressional resolution calling for mandatory
limits on global warming pollution and
·
gaining approval of a National Intelligence
Estimate to assess the security implications of climate change.
His accomplishments in almost eight years of service are too long to list here but you can get more details at
his Congressional site:
http://timbishop.house.gov/
Having
lost the White House, control of Congress, and now the watershed health care bill, the conservative right is preparing to
launch an unprecedented attack on liberal Democrats and Congressman Tim Bishop is a primary target. A crowded field of serious candidates has emerged including:
