Rep. Stephen Lynch has been in Congress for 18 years, and according to him, “it’s never been better.”
Despite growing partisanship, the longest partial government shutdown in American history, and a president who’s currently under investigation for possibly colluding with the Russian government, Lynch says the House Democratic Caucus is focused and ready to get to work.
“I know people are out there saying, ‘What’re you talking about, it’s a horror show,' and it is, but at least we have some control now over our own destiny,” Lynch said in an interview with Boston Public Radio on Thursday. “Even more than when President Obama was in office, there is a singularity in purpose within the Democratic Caucus, and there is a sense of urgency.”
Last month, the South Boston congressman was named chairman of the House National Security Subcommittee, where he plans to bring public oversight to President Donald Trump’s national defense strategy. The committee has a broad mandate. Among the issues they focus on are homeland and border security, the war in Afghanistan, and the United States’ relationship with other nations — all issues Lynch plans on spending time looking into.
Recently, the congressman has been focusing on the war in Afghanistan, where he is skeptical about re-opening discussions with the Taliban. Though the Obama administration also attempted to negotiate with the Taliban in 2010, the difference this time, according to Lynch, is that the administration of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is minimally involved, as opposed to when former President Hamid Karzai played a large role in attempting to broker a peace. Lynch also said he’s concerned about opening talks given the Taliban’s oppressive treatment in Afghanistan — under Taliban rule, women were not allowed to go to school or leave their house without a man under penalty of death.
“The big question that we leave behind there is the status of women and whether or not we can trust Taliban involvement in the government to elevate or even maintain some of the freedoms women enjoy in Afghanistan,” Lynch said. “I think it would be terrible for the United States to sign on the dotted line to relegate all those women to slavery.”
Attorney General William Barr’s announcement this week that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation could be completed soon has also taken a fair amount of the congressman’s attention, especially his concern that Barr won’t allow it to be fully public.
“We will know the truth, and then the challenge will be to get all of the relevant facts disclosed to the public,” Lynch said. “At the end of the day, it may be a situation where we have to fight out each redaction.”
Though Lynch said he’s waiting to read the full report, he said he has not ruled out impeaching Trump based on what the report says, and currently believes the president has committed an impeachable offense.
“If the facts support impeachment, we will impeach,” Lynch said. “I would say there are certainly strong indicia, especially with respect to the dismissal of Director Comey, and some statements that were made by the president that would indicate that there were nefarious reasons for [Comey’s] dismissal.”
