Congresswoman Tenney's Weekly Newsletter Have questions? Contact Me Here Honoring our Fallen Heroes this Memorial Day Each year, Memorial Day is an opportunity for us to come together as a Nation to honor our heroes and remember the fallen. Those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our Nation are the reason we continue to enjoy our freedoms. It is sometimes all too easy to take them for granted. As the mother of a Marine officer, I understand the tremendous sacrifices that our service members and their families make and have made for more than two centuries. I have had the solemn honor of meeting numerous Gold Star families from our community and around the country. These individuals truly understand what it means to sacrifice for freedom. They serve as constant reminders of the true importance of Memorial Day—to honor the service members who did not return home to their families and to make sure we do not forget their sacrifice. Last year, I introduced a bipartisan bill to do just that—to ensure our hometown heroes forever receive the recognition they deserve. The Remembering Our Local Heroes Act would create a program to construct, renovate, and maintain memorials to veterans of the Armed Forces or service members killed in the line of duty, as well as law enforcement officers and firefighters. I also introduced another bill to make sure more veterans and service members killed in the line of duty can get the burial plaques that they deserve after fighting for our country. We must never forget those who put so much on the line for our country. On this Memorial Day, please join me in honoring our fallen service members, our Gold Star families, and all who fight to safeguard America the Beautiful. God Bless our service members, God Bless our veterans, and God Bless America. Statement on Shootings in Buffalo and South Texas I am absolutely devastated by the horrific shootings. Our hearts are heavy, and our thoughts remain with the families of Buffalo and South Texas during this time of immense pain. We mourn for the young and old souls so tragically lost and for their grieving families. These were senseless acts of pure and unspeakable evil. Both shooters were deeply disturbed individuals, underscoring the importance of continuing to expand access to mental health services as well as ensuring that the background check systems we have in place work as they are intended. In Congress, I just recently joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers to introduce a bill to expand and reauthorize programs that provide care and treatment for adult mental health services. We are only just beginning to understand the dire psychological impacts brought on by the pandemic, but one thing is clear: our friends and families need access to care now more than ever. I am honored to join my colleagues in supporting the reauthorization of critical programs to ensure that mental health resources continue to reach individuals who need them most. I am also confident that the improvement in the Crisis Care program will allow policy makers to better incorporate the needs of law enforcement. I strongly urge my colleagues to avoid delay and pass this important legislation. I’ve also cosponsored a bill to streamline the background check process to close loopholes and increase its effectiveness. This commonsense bill will allow the FBI to access the N-DEX system when they conduct firearms background checks through NICS. Had this bill been signed into law previously, it could have prevented shootings like the tragic one in Charleston in 2015. My Plan to Secure the Southern Border Since President Biden took office, a crisis has exploded at our Southern Border. More than 2.6 million migrants have been stopped by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at the border under Biden. During the month of April, an all-time record of 234,088 migrants were stopped by CBP. At least 42 individuals on terrorist watchlists have been apprehended after crossing the border. Enough fentanyl to kill nearly 2.5 billion people has been seized in fiscal year 2022 alone. Biden’s open border policies and potential amnesty for illegal immigrants has created and continues to bolster the worst border crisis in modern history. The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has been derelict in his duties by failing to address this situation. The American people deserve accountability and commonsense solutions to ensure order is restored at the Southern Border. That's why I introduced my plan for securing our Nation's border on Monday. My comprehensive plan includes legislation that I have supported in Congress to ensure safe and secure borders and focuses on three key pillars: (1) Securing our Southern Border; (2) Prioritizing America First; and (3) Upholding the Rule of Law. The plan’s introduction came on the heels of the Biden Administration’s planned end date for Title 42, which recently was stopped by a preliminary injunction from a federal judge in Louisiana. I strongly encourage you to read my full plan by clicking here and as always let me know what you think by contacting my office. Election Integrity Update: Georgia Voter Turnout Breaks Records Following Passage of Election Integrity Bill In 2021, Georgia enacted an election integrity measure designed to strengthen election security and improve election administration. Several prominent Democrats, including President Biden and Stacey Abrams, claimed falsely that the bill was designed to “suppress the vote” without providing any evidence. This week, we saw record turnout, which proves them wrong. In the 2018 midterm gubernatorial primary, 607,441 total votes were cast for Republicans and 555,089 votes were cast in the Democratic primary. This year, turnout surged in both contests. In the Republican primary, 1,193,361 votes were cast – a 96% increase in turnout. This year in the Democratic primary, which was uncontested, 709,118 ballots were cast, a 28% increase in overall turnout. Following this week's record turnout, efforts by Biden and other Democrats were exposed as a shameless publicity stunt designed to score cheap political points. President Biden and Stacey Abrams owe the nation an apology. They injected bitter partisanship into the national conversation for no reason other than to deliberately mislead the American people and divide the nation. SHARE YOUR OPINION! Do you support states adopting commonsense election integrity measures like voter ID? Yes Select No Select President Biden Should Take the U.S. out of the World Health Organization, Not Give It More Power I have continued to hear from numerous constituents who have contacted me with concerns about the World Health Organization (WHO). In response to recent news that the Biden Administration is considering giving even more power to this failed organization, I joined more than 80 of my colleagues in a letter to President Biden. My colleagues and I called on the President to withdraw the United States from the WHO. Absent this withdrawal, we believe that he should work to overhaul the WHO, not expand its power. You can read the full letter here. I will always fight for the interests of the American people and support measures that enhance the accountability, transparency, and integrity of the WHO and all other international organizations, while ensuring our sovereignty is never infringed. When I took my oath of office, I committed to defending and upholding the United States Constitution, not the interests of elite bureaucrats in Davos, Brussels, Geneva or New York. I’ll never waver in this commitment. Memorial Day Events Across our Community New York's 22nd District is a community committed to service and honoring the sacrifice of our heroes. This Memorial Day weekend, I encourage you and your family to join one of any number of community events honoring our heroes. Click the links below for more information on planned events from the Mohawk Valley to the Southern Tier. Mohawk Valley parades and services Chenango County parades and services Tioga County parades and services Upward Bound Grants Awarded for MVCC and Binghamton University This week, I was honored to announce that Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) and Binghamton University received federal Upward Bound grants, which allow the institutions to help more local high school students finish their secondary education and prepare for higher education. Upward Bound projects serve high school students who come from lower income families or families where parents do not hold college degrees. The projects provide instruction in math, science, writing, literature, and foreign language and offer tutoring, counseling, mentorship, work study, and more. MVCC received an award of $295,707, and Binghamton University received a $311,886 award. MVCC will run one component of its project alongside Utica-area high school Thomas R. Proctor High School and another over the summer, which will resemble a college experience for students. Binghamton University will provide both site visits to local high schools and on-campus instruction during the school year, in addition to hosting a six-week residential summer program. Schedule Your DC Tour Today! As our nation returns to normal and reopens, it is my pleasure to share that tours of the White House and Capitol Building have made their long-awaited return! While tours have resumed at several locations, sites such as the U.S. Capitol are doing so incrementally. As such, we are still limited in how many constituent tours we can host each week. At present, tours of the Capitol Building have been restricted to one appointment per office per week. Please note, the White House requires 21 days minimum notice to accommodate any tour requests. Availability for both of these tours is extremely limited. I urge you to reach out to my office as soon as possible regarding all future tour requests. You can do so by accessing my tour request portal here. While my office may be unable to secure a Congressional tour for all the sites you have selected given the high demand and currently limited availability, there are a number of locations that remain available for public tours. I urge you to visit house.gov for more information regarding these opportunities. Such locations include the Supreme Court and the National Archives, which you can view here and here. You may also wish to register to receive your very own reader registration card through the Library of Congress, which you can do here. I would also suggest you contact your U.S. Senators, as they too have been successful in accommodating tour requests. You can submit a tour request to Senator Schumer's office here, as well as to Senator Gillibrand here. I believe strongly that our Nation's Capitol Building should be opened, which is why I have joined my colleagues in numerous public letters to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to reopen the Capitol for tours. Although tours have started to return, there are still far too many restrictions in place. The American people deserve full access. Rest assured that my office will do all it can to accommodate as many requests as possible. We appreciate your understanding in this matter and wish all visitors a safe and pleasant trip to Washington. 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 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. ‌ ‌ ‌ Rep. Tenney | 1410 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected]