New York Democrat pens op-ed on why he opposes impeaching Trump

New York Democratic Rep. Max Rose wrote an op-ed this week pushing back on efforts to impeach President Trump, warning it could distract from pursuing other initiatives.

Rose said in the op-ed published in the Staten Island Advance that there is “no doubt that this administration is one of the most corrupt in history” but argued that pursuing a “partisan impeachment process won’t address any of those serious issues.”

“It’s clear as day, the swamp is alive and thriving,” Rose wrote. “The truth is impeachment will only tear our country further apart and we will see no progress on the enormous challenges we face as a nation.”

“Impeachment will not fix our roads and bridges or lower the costs of drugs. Impeachment will not keep our kids safe from gun violence or end the opioid epidemic,” he continued. “Impeachment will not improve the lives of the hardworking Staten Islanders and South Brooklynites that I fight for every day.”{mosads}

Rose, who is up for reelection next year in a district Trump won in 2016, added that he fears the Democratic Party will make a mistake by “focusing on impeachment instead of infrastructure, healthcare costs, and putting people to work with livable wages and benefits.”

More than 130 House Democrats are on record endorsing in some form efforts to impeach Trump. But Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other top Democrats have resisted that push, citing a lack of support from both the public and GOP lawmakers.

“Legislate, investigate, litigate. That’s the path that we’ve been on, and that’s the path we continue to be on,” Pelosi said during her weekly press briefing in the Capitol on Thursday.

Rose, who first won election to his seat last year, is running for reelection in a district rated a “toss-up” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. While former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton won the state of New York by double digits in 2016, Trump won Rose’s 11th District by nearly 10 points.

“There’s far too much work left to be done and we are in danger of losing the trust of the American people if we choose partisan warfare over improving the lives of hardworking families,” Rose wrote in his op-ed. “I made a promise to my constituents to focus on making their lives better, and I won’t break it.”