Welcome to what is the 1094th original profile here at “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day”, where we’ll be discussing Tom Reed, who was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for New York’s 23rd Congressional District back in the 2012 elections. Now, with a bland name like Tom Reed, this guy is very forgettable compared to some of his more extreme and often more quotable GOP House members from the past decade… the only headlines he ever made were for passing out and losing consciousness while waiting to do a TV interview in September of 2019, and for being one of many enabling idjits to talked about holding those responsible accountable for January 6th, but then going on record to outright refuse to support the impeachment of Donald Trump for plotting a coup and inciting an attack on the Capitol.
But when you look, his voting record is in no way moderate, not even for a New York Republican:
- February 28th, 2013: Reed can’t be bothered to shop up to vote for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.
- June 19th, 2013: Tom Reed votes against restoring $20.5 billion towards the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.September 30th, 2013: Rep. Reed votes for the 2013 Government Shutdown. When the vote came up seventeen days later to re-open the government, Reed voted to keep it closed.
- Feb 26th, 2014: Tom Reed goes “all in” on the faux-scandal surrounding the IRS researching SuperPACs by voting for the “Stop the Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act”.
- July 10th, 2014: Reed votes for House Amendment 1040, to prevent the implementation of the dreaded United Nations Agenda 21 Treaty, that in spite of just being recommended climate change guidelines, have many conspiracy theorists within the extreme right convinced it’s a plot for global domination.
- January 22nd, 2015: Tom Reed votes for HR 7, an anti-abortion bill that makes even some Republicans pause before voting for it because of its language that tries to define the conditions for what “rape” is, in it.
- February 3rd, 2015: Rep. Reed votes for the 60th Republican attempt at repealing the Affordable Care Act. This in spite of the fact that the law is not just working, but better than experts predicted.
- March 3rd, 2015: Reed votes against funding the Department of Homeland Security as part of a Republican protest of President Obama’s executive orders on immigration.
- September 11th, 2015: Reed votes against the United States’ nuclear treaty with Iran.
- September 18th, 2015: Rep. Reed votes for a bill with most House Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, based on highly edited “sting” videos submitted by a Pro-Life advocacy group that have been repeatedly debunked by investigators.
- November 19th, 2015: Reed votes for the American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act, reacting to the terror attacks in Paris by jihadists from France and Belgium by trying to create greater restrictions to keep out Syrian refugees, of whom exactly zero were involved in those attacks.
- February 2nd, 2016: Tom Reed votes for HR 3762, the 61st attempt by Congressional Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (which is still working better than was predicted).
- February 16th, 2017: Reed votes for HJR 69, to make it legal for hunters on wildlife reserves to kill several species of hibernating bears or wolves while they’re sleeping. Because… well, the logic really isn’t there as to why, it’s just awful.
- March 16th, 2017: Tom Reed votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge’s written order. We feel safer already.
- May 4th, 2017: Reed votes for the GOP’s healthcare plan, that would allow 24,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions, and would treat pregnancy, post-partum depression, and sexual assault as “pre-existing conditions”. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Reed would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
- June 8th, 2017: Tom Reed votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
- October 3rd, 2017: Reed votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
- December 19th, 2017: Tom Reed votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
- February 18th, 2018: Rep. Reed and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and vote for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.
- January 23rd, 2019: Rep. Reed voted against HR 648, because he was gleefully enjoying the longest government shutdown in history.
- February 28th, 2019: Reed votes against HR 1112, a bill which would have required universal background checks on all firearm purchases, and close the gun show loophole.
- March 14th, 2019: Rep. Reed votes against HJR 46, which sane members of Congress voted for to reject Donald Trump’s “national emergency” regarding the U.S. border and his attempts to reallocate funds for a border wall without Congressional approval.
- April 4th, 2019: Tom Reed is one of 158 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- June 4th, 2019: Rep. Reed votes against the Dreamers Act, because he’s too xenophobic and partisan to care about immigration reform.
- July 16th, 2019: Tom Reed votes against a resolution to condemn Donald Trump for his racist statements that four people of color in Congress should “go back where they came from”.
- October 17th, 2019: Reed is one of 60 Republicans who vote against HJ Res 77, which opposed Donald Trump’s disastrous decision to abandon Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria to the mercies of a Turkish invasion.
- December 18th, 2019: Rep. Reed ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the first impeachment of Donald Trump.
- May 15th, 2020: Reed votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Reed votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
- February 4th, 2021: Tom Reed votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Reed votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Tom Reed votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Reed votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because she feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Reed is one of 172 Republicans who choose to vote against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 19th, 2021: Rep. Reed votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
There was a very brief time where it was thought Tom Reed was going to run for Governor of New York in 2022, spurred by the fact that he piled on with a lot of others to trash (deservedly so) Gov. Andrew Cuomo in March of 2021 when he was accused by many women of sexual misconduct, telling him, “your days are numbered”. And, cue the ironic music, because only about a week alter, Reed was accused of sexually assaulting a staffer who said she was groped by him. It would have been hard to claim this was accidental, as Reed unhooked her bra, rubbed her back, and ran his hand up her thigh.
Reed eventually did apologize, said he had no memory of the assault, blamed his actions on a personal battle with alcoholism, and announced he would not be running for re-election to even his House seat in 2022, let alone for Governor of New York.
We would like to wish him our finest “GOOD RIDDANCE” salutes at this time.
One Year Ago, April 24th, 2021: Ralph Norman (NC)
Two Years Ago, April 24th, 2020: Tim Eyman (WA)
Three Years Ago, April 24th, 2019: Gary Glenn (MI)… 2019 Update
Four Years Ago, April 24th, 2018: Gary Glenn (MI)… 2018 Update
Five Years Ago, April 24th, 2017: Gary Glenn (MI)… 2017 Update
Six Years Ago. April 24th, 2016: Gary Glenn (MI)… Original Profile
Seven Years Ago: April 24th, 2015: Basil Marceaux (TN)