November 18, 2023
Dear Friends,
The past several months in the GOP-led House of Representatives have been defined by chaos, dysfunction, and brinksmanship. Even after spending precious weeks fighting amongst themselves over the election of a new Speaker, House Republicans continued to waste the nation’s time attempting to shove through damaging and deeply partisan spending bills that had no chance of becoming law. Instead of adhering to the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act that they and President Biden agreed upon earlier this year, House Republicans have pursued a path of extremism, demanding devastating cuts to our healthcare system and further restrictions on abortion and LGBTQ+ rights as their price for keeping our government open.
This week, after those efforts failed repeatedly on the House floor, I was grateful that Republicans finally relented and advanced legislation that will temporarily maintain government funding at previously agreed-upon levels. Once again, Democrats provided the votes necessary to pass this bill, avoiding a harmful GOP shutdown and the pain it would cause to our communities, our economy, and our national security. But as long as Republicans remain committed to coddling far-right extremists and slashing funding for essential government programs, this short-term fix brings us no closer to a long-term solution.
Over the past several weeks, House Republicans have made it abundantly clear where their priorities lie. They’ve pressed forward with a dizzying array of bigoted measures and devastating spending cuts, from creating a license to discriminate against LGBTQ+ Americans and imposing a 92 percent cut to Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor to gutting efforts to remove lead from the homes of low-income families and help Americans access clean and safe drinking water, to name just a handful. With Speaker Johnson signaling that he’ll continue to allow the most right-wing members of the GOP conference to set the House’s agenda when the next government funding deadline arrives, a major course correction is needed if Congress hopes to pass a strong full-year budget that addresses the priorities of the American people.
But even as Republicans remain mired in this mess of their own making, critical programs championed by Democrats continue to bring billions of dollars in game-changing investments to our communities. This week, we celebrated two years since the enactment of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This landmark legislation is already addressing pressing infrastructure needs across our nation, all while creating countless good-paying jobs and moving us toward a cleaner, greener, 21st century economy.
Many of this law’s transformative investments have already arrived here in our Capital Region, including:
- $1.2 billion to update the 1,611 New York bridges in need of repair, including $21 million to rehabilitate and strengthen the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge;
- $1 billion to improve New York’s water infrastructure, providing clean, safe drinking water and removing lead pipes from homes and communities;
- $503.9 million allocated to New York for clean energy, efficiency, and power, including $289.7 million for weatherization;
- $100.7 million to date to build out a network of EV charging stations across New York State; and
- $664.6 million to deliver affordable high-speed internet access to New Yorkers through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD). Check out the “Did You Know?” section below to learn more about how you can help your community benefit from this landmark funding!
And while many projects from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are already benefiting Capital Region communities, dozens more — including new electric bus and charging infrastructure for CDTA, the City of Schenectady’s Craig Street Rehabilitation project, and the City of Cohoes’ Columbia Street Pedestrian Accessibility project, to name just a few — are expected to break ground soon.
My Democratic colleagues and I remain laser-focused on delivering for our communities and advancing policies that make a difference in the daily lives of American families. But we cannot continue this critical work without sensible, responsible governing partners on the other side of the aisle. Too much is at stake to continue on the path of dysfunction and extremism that House Republicans have thus far chosen to follow. In the coming months, as we continue to work toward a long-term budget solution, I hope my Republican colleagues will finally join us in fulfilling the work of the American people.
As always, thank you for reading.
Your friend,
DID YOU KNOW?
My office and I are working to make sure you remain informed with the latest updates and recommendations from state and federal agencies. With that in mind, here is some information that may be of interest to you:
- Throughout my time in Congress, I’ve been proud to lead the way on efforts to expand broadband internet infrastructure to our rural and underserved communities.
- As part of that push, I helped secure $664.6 million from the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) Program, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, for New York State’s ConnectALL Office to help transform our state’s digital infrastructure and connect all New Yorkers to the internet.
- Last week, ConnectALL released both volumes of their Initial Proposal for broadband deployment across New York State.
- From now until December 6, 2023, New York is seeking public comment on their proposal to gain insights on how it might impact communities across the state.
- You can click HERE to read Volume 1 of the proposal, and submit your comments HERE.
- You can click HERE to read Volume 2 of the proposal, and submit your comments HERE.
- I encourage you to make your voice heard as this game-changing project gets underway, so you can make certain that your community reaps the maximum benefit from this vital investment!
- You can also click HERE to learn more about ConnectALL’s outreach and engagement efforts.
