My Visit to the Southern Border
This week, I visited the Southern Border in El Paso, Texas to assess the ongoing immigration and border crisis throughout the southwest region. While there, I was briefed by El Paso Sector Chief Gloria Chavez about the methods and tactics individuals crossing our borders are using. Chief Chavez oversees 264 miles of the border and shared with me the challenges she and many other CBP agents are currently facing.
The situation could not be any clearer. This crisis is a direct result of President Biden's misguided decision to reverse the previous administration's policies. Especially heartbreaking is the dramatic increase in the number of unaccompanied children who are crossing the border, many facing physical and mental abuse along the way. This drives home that this isn’t just a national security crisis but a humanitarian one that we must address with compassion.
I left this visit with an even deeper sense of respect and admiration for the men and women of CBP who are putting their lives on the line each day to protect our Nation. Chief Chavez and the CBP agents I met with not only stand guard on the front lines of our border, they are also being asked to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to those they encounter. We owe them a significant debt of gratitude.
What was also made extremely clear was that Congress and the Administration are not providing CBP with the support they deserve to fulfill their core mission. After many frank conversations with CBP agents, it is abundantly clear that we must do more. There are three major takeaways that I'll be bringing back to share with my colleagues in Congress:
- We must immediately restart construction of the border barrier. While it won't stop all illegal immigration, it is a tremendous tool that allows our law enforcement to better manage the situation more safely.
- We must invest in more technology. We have proven technologies that help border agents identify illegal activity and address it while reducing risks. Congress needs to fully fund and deploy these technologies.
- We must provide CBP with greater budget flexibility so they're able to surge financial resources in times of crisis like we are seeing now.
These are three immediate steps I'm going to work on in Congress and I hope my colleagues across the aisle join me. I have consistently said that Congress should come together to negotiate a bipartisan and compassionate solution to our immigration crisis that provides dignity, strengthens border security, reforms the broken asylum process, and actually disincentivizes illegal immigration.
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Tenney Introduces Anti-Corruption Bills
I have introduced two important bills in Congress that seek to promote greater accountability and oversight for public officials. The No Pensions for Corrupt Politicians Act (H.R. 1950) and the Upholding the Integrity of Public Officials Act (H.R. 1949) are two pieces of legislation that will prevent corruption from occurring while individuals hold a public position and strip them of receiving taxpayer-funded benefits if convicted of felonies.
Corrupt politicians always have a way of finding loopholes to advance their personal interests, often at great expense to the American taxpayer. The No Pensions for Corrupt Politicians Act closes one of these loopholes – it will cut off federal pensions to Members of Congress as soon as they’re convicted of a crime. Under current law, politicians can continue receiving pensions for years after they’re convicted just by keeping their cases tied up in the appeals process. Public servants must be held to a higher standard.
The Upholding the Integrity of Public Officials Act of 2021 broadens the definition of an “official act” to reform federal anti-bribery laws and strengthen transparency and oversight within the federal government. My legislation clarifies the definition of official act and clearly states that if an elected official takes bribes in exchange for official favors, they have committed a crime. These are simple standards we should expect all elected officials to uphold.
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Tenney Joins Bicameral Effort to Oppose Speaker Pelosi's Attempt to Overturn the State-Certified Election Results in Iowa's 2nd District
I joined 124 of my colleagues in sending Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter regarding House Democrats' attempts to overturn Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks state-certified election. I have made the issues of election integrity and security key priorities in Congress after the 2020 election in New York’s 22nd Congressional District, which exposed several concerning errors.
The fact is that on January 3 of this year, Speaker Pelosi swore in and congratulated Congresswoman Miller-Meeks for being elected to serve in the 117th Congress. Now, Speaker Pelosi's efforts to overturn the election results in Iowa's 2nd District using American tax dollars are being led by Marc Elias, the same Democratic political operative who sought unsuccessfully to overturn the election results in New York's 22nd District.
Marc Elias and Speaker Pelosi are teaming up to unseat a duly elected Member of Congress in an unprecedented power grab. House Democrats are arguing that the Committee on House Administration can rewrite Iowa's state election laws because they didn't like the outcome of the election. This isn't just partisan, it is an abuse of power that strikes at the heart of our constitutional republic. At a time when Congress needs to be restoring faith in the fairness of our elections, House Democrats are playing politics with one of our most sacred rights as Americans.
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Cosponsor Update
I am pleased to share several bills that I have cosponsored in Congress and other legislative updates relevant to Upstate New York. I am focused on representing you in Washington and want to make sure you follow along with my legislative efforts.
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H.J. Res 12 - Imposes term limits in Congress by limiting Senators to two terms and Representatives to three terms. This is a common sense bill that ensures needed change in Washington.
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H.R. 872 - One Subject at a Time Act requires bills considered in the House to cover a single topic at a time. Washington needs to end its practice of massive omnibus bills and operate in a fully transparent manner.
Being Signed by the President
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H.R. 1799 - the PPP Extension Act of 2021 which extends the Paycheck Protection Program from March 31, 2021 to June 30, 2021, passed the House last week and passed the Senate this week. I'm a cosponsor of this bipartisan legislation and am pleased to see small businesses across the country will be able to have continued access to important resources.
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Supporting American Energy Independence
I had the opportunity to join my colleagues Reps. Yvette Herrell, Ronny Jackson, and Pete Stauber for a roundtable discussion on the importance of US-energy independence and its impact on our economy in the state of New Mexico. America's energy independence is a key priority for me in Congress, and it was great to see the work that our energy producers are doing to increase production and drive down costs. I'm deeply disappointed in some of the Executive Orders this Administration has put in place on energy, such as halting the Keystone Pipeline. We need to safely harness our Nation's energy resources and that is my priority in Congress.
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WAER: Rep. Claudia Tenney Focuses on Small Businesses, Bipartisanship In Her First Weeks In Office
This week, I joined WAER radio to share several updates about my first few weeks in the 117th Congress including a few updates from my meetings with small business owners as part of my small business outreach tour. As a member of the House Small Business Committee, I want to ensure that our small businesses are heard and receive the support they need to make it through the pandemic.
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Protecting New Yorkers From Devastating Tax Hikes
I joined Congressmembers Chris Jacobs (NY-27) Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Lee Zeldin (NY-01), and Andrew Garbarino (NY-02) in calling on New York State Assembly Speaker Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins to eliminate proposals to raise state taxes for the new fiscal year.
In part, our letter read: “Our state has suffered from decades of irresponsible and self-serving public policies, laws, and regulations that have made living, working, and running a business in New York incredibly expensive. The exodus from our state due to these flawed policies has only been exacerbated during the COVID crisis. Many of those individuals and businesses that are being taxed at high rates have a greater ability than ever before to move from New York and are doing so. Increasing taxes in the midst of our recovery from the pandemic would only accelerate that trend,” Reps. Jacobs, Stefanik, Tenney, Zeldin, and Garbarino wrote.
Read the full story here
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Congressional Art Competition
Don't forget the 2021 Congressional Art Competition happening now through April 23! This competition is open to 11th and 12th graders who reside in the 22nd Congressional District. It is a great opportunity for students to showcase their talent and express their creativity. I encourage all students to participate in this competition and really look forward to seeing the inspiring submissions from our district.
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Economic Impact Payments
My office has received several inquiries regarding the economic impact payments being sent out by the IRS. I wanted to share some resources with you from the IRS that were recently updated to reflect the most up to date information for your economic impact payment. If you have questions at all or need assistance, please don't hesitate to call my office at 315-732-0713. We are here to help!
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Have news or updates to share? Email me! |
If you have updates regarding events in the community or other news to share from across New York's 22nd Congressional District, please visit the "Contact Me" page on my website to share it with me. My team will try to include as many of your updates from around #NY22 as we can each week.
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