Opponent blasts Schiff for failing his California constituents
Self-described conservative independent candidate Jennifer Barbosa makes her case to take Rep. Adam Schiff's congressional seat in California.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is wasting federal funds trying to impeach President Trump, while his state continues to suffer from an unprecedented homelessness crisis, said his congressional challenger Jennifer Barbosa, on "Fox & Friends" Monday.
Barbosa, an independent, claimed Schiff has not passed any legislation since 2012 and said his only contribution to fighting homelessness has been to sign on with his fellow Democrat, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., rather than offer an original idea.
"Adam Schiff has been my congressman since 2012. He became my congressman through the redistricting process," she said. "Since he became my congressman he has not presented any legislation that's become law. In terms of homelessness, what he's done is he's basically rubber-stamped Maxine Waters' bill to deal with homelessness, and her bill essentially replicated the same failed policies that [L.A.] Mayor [Eric] Garcetti has implemented in our city over the past few years.
"We know they're not working," Barbosa continued. "So, what we need to do in terms of homelessness... we need to stop allocating federal funds for affordable housing which costs $500,000-700,000 per unit and really focus on mental health services for the people who are living on the street."
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Schiff's 28th congressional district has seen a 12 percent spike in homelessness over the last year, with 59,000 homeless people now living in Los Angeles County, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. And 75.2 percent of those homeless citizens are unsheltered and without refuge.
Barbosa said Schiff should be using his time and resources to help his home district, rather than trying to settle an old political score with Trump and the GOP.
"Seeing the impeachment inquiry, when he's wasting all these resources — we know that Ken Starr's impeachment cost about $70 million," she said. "That's $70 million that really could be spent on much better things in our district."
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During a Sunday interview on CNN, Schiff claimed that Democrats have an "ironclad" case against the president on impeachment, but refused to say if they would actually impeach him, after being asked point-blank. He said he still has to confer with his congressional colleagues and home state constituents before rendering a final verdict.
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"I want to discuss this with my constituents and my colleagues before I make a final judgment on it," he told host Jake Tapper. "But there are a couple of really important things we need to think about."