Dear Friends,
It is my greatest honor to represent you in Congress. As always, my mission is to advocate for Upstate New York and the North Country’s priorities at the highest levels of government. Here is a look at my last week working for you in Congress.
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Our dairy farmers in Upstate New York and the North Country work hard to produce nutritious milk for our communities, and I am proud to introduce legislation to ensure a variety of nutritious milk choices for our school children.
In light of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ proposal to ban flavored milk in New York City schools, I introduced the Protecting School Milk Choices Act. My bill would ensure schools participating in the National School Lunch Program offer students at least one flavored milk option. Instead of taking away milk choices from students, my bill will give them better access to essential dairy nutrients in dairy critical for their development.
Let our New York students drink chocolate milk!
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I have been calling on Canada to drop its testing requirements, and now, beginning on April 1, Canada will no longer require testing for vaccinated Americans to enter Canada or for vaccinated Canadians returning home after short visits to the U.S.
This decision is a positive step forward for our Upstate New York and North Country families, tourism, and small businesses. However, there is still more work left to do to fully restore our communities. I’m calling on the United States to lead the path forward by dropping all COVID-19 requirements and fully restoring Northern Border travel, and Canada should follow.
It’s time to return to normalcy.
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Military spouses make up an essential part of our Fort Drum community, as well as communities across Upstate New York and the North Country. I am proud to honor their service by cosponsoring the bipartisan Military Spouse Hiring Act to address military spouse unemployment by encouraging and incentivizing employers to hire them.
While our military spouses make their own sacrifices for our country as they support their loved ones in uniform, they should know they also have the support they need during the added stress of finding a job. Unfortunately, the unemployment rates for military spouses far exceed that of the national average. This bill would help close the gap by expanding the Work Opportunity Tax Credit to include the hiring of qualified military spouses, allowing employers to claim a tax credit equal to a portion of the wages paid to those spouses.
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As Americans experienced during the pandemic, reliance on foreign adversaries for critical materials or technology is a vulnerability to our economic and national security. Semiconductor chips are in everything from smartphones and vehicles to the most advanced weapons systems. For decades, American manufacturing of semiconductors has slowly decreased, while reliance on foreign nations for this critical technology has increased. As global competitiveness for semiconductor control has intensified, countries like Communist China have provided incentives to draw companies to manufacture semiconductors on their soil.
I joined a bipartisan group of my colleagues in introducing the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors (FABS) Act, a bill intended to drive long-term investment into the United States for the design and manufacturing of semiconductor chips. This investment in domestic semiconductor manufacturing will create a long-term foundation to secure a domestic semiconductor supply chain, strengthen our economy, and support jobs. Through the incentives in this legislation, the United States can take back control of our semiconductor supply chain.
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The Biden Administration’s plan to expand the scope of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) is another example of government overregulation on our farmers, landowners, small businesses, and their property. I’m calling on the Biden Administration to halt its plan to expand federal control over water and private land through WOTUS, which would unnecessarily burden businesses, communities, and private citizens.
Additionally, a Supreme Court ruling on WOTUS later this year will have significant impacts on any rule put forward. A premature rulemaking will increase existing uncertainty and confusion for stakeholders, who have already experienced years of uncertainty, and could lead to another complete rewrite just months down the line, wasting taxpayer resources.
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This week, I spoke out against Democrats’ legislation (H.R. 5428) that politicizes school shootings to the detriment of law enforcement and student safety in the House Committee on Education and Labor’s legislative markup. Specifically, this legislation would create more bureaucracy for schools and waste time and resources to report on unnecessary information instead of providing for student safety or supporting school resource officers.
All parents should be able to send their children to school and let them play in their neighborhood without worrying about their safety. Sadly, under Democrat leadership and because of dangerous defund the police policies and rhetoric, right now too many communities across America and especially in New York are not safe
During the markup, I offered an amendment to H.R. 5428, which would focus the required report on what is actually putting students at risk, including whether the state or locality is implementing dangerous bail reform policies, and whether schools are imposing restrictions on School Resource Officers, or turning to “restorative justice” as an alternative to school discipline. If we care about safety, and if we care about data, we should care about this information.
If Democrats were truly concerned about student safety, they should crack down on their dangerous bail reform policies, end their “defund the police” agenda in schools, and reconsider their ending of school discipline.
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This week, President Zelenskyy turned to the United States Congress on behalf of the Ukrainian people and their struggle for freedom and sovereignty.
It is clear the United States can and should do more to support our Ukrainian partners. As foreign adversaries like Russia are watching for any sign of American weakness, the United States has the opportunity to send a clear message to the world that we support Ukraine in their fight against Russian aggression and war crimes.
Following President Zelenskyy’s address, I continued my call for the United States to end any delay in providing Ukraine with the lethal aid, including MiGs, and the swift humanitarian support they need and use every lever of economic power to cripple the Russian economy through tougher sanctions targeting the Russian energy sector.
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This week, I was proud to vote to advance the Suspending Normal Trade Relations with Russia and Belarus Act and send a clear message to Vladimir Putin today that there are consequences for his bloodthirsty aggression. Our partners in Ukraine deserve to know they have the support of the United States in their fight for their country and their freedom, and Russia should feel the full impact of the United States’ economic power. I have been calling on the Biden administration to issue strong sanctions, and, after months of delay, we are finally one step closer to imposing the full economic might of United States on Russia. |
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The American people stand strongly with the people of Ukraine. Following President Zelenskyy’s address, I joined House Republican leadership to respond.
As a new mom, it is heart-wrenching to watch the video that President Zelenskyy played, especially the bombing of maternity wards and the war crimes that are being committed. Make no mistake - there will be consequences on the global stage for Vladimir Putin.
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I was honored to meet with General McConville, the Chief of Staff of the Army and Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth.
During our meeting, we discussed the critical capabilities and readiness that Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division provide for the Army and our national security.
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In The News
This week's top news stories:
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I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as your representative in Congress.
As part of my commitment to transparency, I post all of my votes to my Facebook page every Friday on weeks that the House of Representatives has votes, which you can find here.
Please know I am here to serve you. Never hesitate to reach out to my offices.
Sincerely,
Elise
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Washington, D.C.
2211 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202)-225-4611
Fax: (202)-226-0621
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Glens Falls
5 Warren Street, Suite 4
Glens Falls, NY 12801
Phone: (518)-743-0964
Fax: (518)-743-1391
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Watertown
88 Public Square
Suite A
Watertown, NY 13601
Phone: (315)-782-3150
Fax: (315)-782-1291
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Plattsburgh
137 Margaret Street
Suite 100
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Phone: (518)-561-2324
Fax: (518)-561-2408
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