On National Girls and Women in Sports Day earlier this year, I walked up the Capitol steps alongside tremendous female athletes like Riley Gaines to introduce H.R. 734, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
This week, with my support, the bill passed the House by a vote of 219-203. House Republicans kept yet another commitment to the American people by voting to pass this commonsense bill. Across the country, the Biden administration is allowing, even encouraging, biological men to participate in women’s sports. This is fundamentally unfair and diminishes equal opportunities for women in athletics, which we fought for decades to achieve. This bill protects opportunities for female athletes to train, compete, and thrive.
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This week, I joined my colleagues to introduce the bipartisan and bicameral Fighting Trade Cheats Act to combat malign foreign actors, like China, from evading U.S. trade laws and dumping foreign-made goods into U.S. markets. It will also protect good-paying jobs for American workers.
Adversaries like China have consistently violated U.S. trade laws, hurting Upstate New York businesses and workers. Now more than ever, we must enact policies that will give our country the right tools to strongly enforce our trade laws and protect our economy. The Fighting Trade Cheats Act responds to this and ensures that no foreign entity is above the law while increasing penalties for malicious actors. Read more about this bill here.
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The family-owned Oswego Speedway has been operating for more than 50 years, creating jobs and promoting economic investment in our community.
This week I introduced the Motorsports Fairness and Permanency Act, which incentivizes more investments in motorsports facilities like this in New York and around the country. It makes the seven-year cost recovery period permanent, allowing the industry the certainty it needs to thrive, grow, and continue creating prosperity. I am honored to lead this commonsense legislation that promotes economic development and investment in our community.
“Family-owned racetracks like ours provide quality jobs, generate business, and offer family-friendly entertainment for our community,” said Jennifer and John Torrese of Oswego Speedway. “The Motorsports Fairness and Permanency Act will provide certainty to racetracks and speedways like ours across the country by making the cost recovery period of seven years permanent for motorsports facilities. This gives us peace of mind and makes it just a little bit easier for us to continue doing what we love for our community. We would like to thank Congresswoman Tenney for her leadership on this important issue.”
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Transparency and a well-informed public are vital components of our self-governing Constitutional Republic! I'm committed to restoring transparency to government, which is why I explain every vote I take on the House floor.
Some of the key bills we considered this week are explained below. To read more about these votes and see the full list with explanations of all the legislation considered this week by the House of Representatives, please click here.
- I voted “Yes” on H.R. 734, Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023. This bill would prohibit biological men from competing in women’s sports and depriving women of athletic opportunities guaranteed by Title IX. The facts are clear: biological men are different from biological women and have distinct advantages over women in many athletic events. Allowing biological men to compete against women strips women of scholarship opportunities and the Title IX protections that generations of women fought for. I was disappointed that my Democratic colleagues opposed this commonsense bill, which I was honored to have introduced on behalf of the sponsor, Representative Greg Steube. This bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 219-203.
- I voted “Yes” on H.J. Res. 42, Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022. This resolution would nullify DC’s new extreme law that undermines the safety of our police officers and their ability to do their jobs effectively. This law is an attempt by the DC Council to support the defund the police movement. This law will restrict police access to the tools they need to do their jobs and even threaten their privacy. In fact, this law was so extreme, that even DC Mayor Muriel Bowser refused to sign it into law. Since the bill was enacted, 1,190 police officers have left the DC police force and the city has experienced a sharp spike in crime. We should combat America's growing crime crisis and anti-police rhetoric by supporting our law enforcement officers, and this should start right here in our Nation’s capital. This resolution passed the House of Representatives by a bipartisan vote of 229-189.
- I voted “Yes” on H.R. 1149, the Countering Untrusted Telecommunications Abroad Act, as amended. The bill requires the Secretary of State to report on the presence of untrusted telecommunications equipment or services in the United States and our embassies and recommend acts to protect the U.S. from them. As Chinese companies such as TikTok and Huawei continue to target Americans, we must do more to combat these unsafe technologies by securing our telecommunications network from foreign interference and espionage. This bill passed the House by a vote of 410-8.
- I voted “Yes” on the veto message for H.J. Res. 27, a joint resolution of disapproval of the Biden Administration’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule. Last December, the Biden Administration released its new navigable waters definition, overturning the previous Trump Administration rule. This change radically expands the scope of this federal regulation and fails to provide a firm definition of covered waterways. The change will enable the Environmental Protection Agency to apply red tape to large swaths of private and agricultural land across the country. Also, because the definition is not well crafted, many landowners will need to ask the EPA for clarification before doing work on their land, a process that can often take years. This is completely impractical and totally unworkable, amounting to an extreme power grab by the federal government. The Clean Water Act was enacted to protect major bodies of water like the Great Lakes or the Oswego River, not the drainage ditch next to your driveway. However, after this commonsense bill to passed in both the House and Senate with bipartisan majorities, President Biden decided to use the second veto of his presidency to kill this bill and protect the priorities of extreme activists. In response, I supported this resolution to override this veto. This bill required a 2/3 majority to pass and failed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 217-202.
- I voted “Yes” on H.R. 1151, the Upholding Sovereignty of Airspace Act, as amended. This bill rebukes the Chinese Communist Party for its recent violation of American sovereignty with its high-altitude surveillance balloons this February. The bill introduces export controls on aerospace equipment to China, imposes sanctions on individuals related to the CCP’s aerospace surveillance program, and requires the Secretary of State to formulate a diplomatic strategy to alert allies about the scope of the CCP’s surveillance program. The United States cannot and will not allow foreign adversaries to violate our sovereignty, and we must forcefully condemn such provocative actions while also taking actions to prevent them from ever reoccurring. This bill passed the House by a vote of 405-6.
- I voted “Yes” on H.Res. 240, Condemning recent actions taken by the Russian military to down a United States Air Force drone. This resolution denounces the Russian military for targeting an American drone in international airspace on March 14 with two of its fighter jets, which dumped fuel on the drone and then hit it. Additionally, it condemns the Russian armed forces for attempting to recover the drone after it crashed in the Black Sea. These actions were nothing more than an attack on the freedom of navigation in international airspace and waters. It is important we do not stand silently in the face of this aggression. This bill passed the House by a vote of 410-0.
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Earlier this month, as part of my Farm Bill Listening Tour, I met with farmers and producers across New York’s 24th District, who expressed concerns that President Biden's new WOTUS rule was overly broad and poorly defined.
This is why I supported H.J. Res. 27 to overturn it. And it is why I voted again this week to override Biden's veto of that joint resolution. With his irresponsible veto of H.J. Res. 27, President Biden proved once again that he continues to prioritize far-left activists over our nation's farmers and landowners.
Our region’s farmers are among the best stewards of our natural environment, and they should be viewed as important partners in conversation efforts. Instead, Biden's WOTUS rule targets them with even more regulations, which are overly burdensome and will drive up costs at a time of already soaring inflation.
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UPCOMING EVENT: April Monthly Webinar |
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Don't forget, our next webinar series will provide an overview of the passport process in light of the recent increase in passport applications and delays. It will also cover how our office can help those facing immediate travel issues.
What: Agency Webinar Series on Passport Help
When: Thursday, April 27th
Time: 12 PM
Place: Virtual Via Zoom
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Upcoming Mobile Office Hours |
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Mark your calendars! Our office is hosting our in-person, one-on-one Mobile Office Hours this week, bringing the many services of our office right to you. To schedule your appointment, call 315-236-7088.
Orleans County
Date: April 27th
Time: 10 AM-1 PM
Place: Village of Medina Village Hall
Address: 119 Park Ave, Medina, NY 14103
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Need Help with a Federal Agency? Call us today. |
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If you or someone you know ever needs assistance with a federal agency, we are just a phone call away and are ready to help you! Please contact my Victor Office at 585-869-2060, my Oswego Office at 315-236-7088 or my Lockport Office at 716-514-5130! Thank you for the opportunity to represent you. |
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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 24th 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 #NY24 as we can each week.
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