Calling on Federal and State Officials to Ensure the Safety of Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers |
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Since the unauthorized leak of the draft decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court case, pro-life pregnancy centers across the country have been targeted by threats and violent attacks. In the last two months, there have been at least 15 documented attacks against pro-life organizations. These attacks included incidences of vandalism, destruction of property, and even firebombing. For example, CompassCare Pregnancy Services, a pro-life pregnancy center located right here in New York, was firebombed just last week.
In addition to these attacks, police recently arrested a California man for attempting to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at his home. Each of these crimes were clearly politically motivated acts of violence.
This week, I teamed up with my colleagues in the House to demand the Department of Justice take action to hold the perpetrators accountable, protect pro-life pregnancy centers, and put an end to this anarchy immediately.
First, on Wednesday, I led a letter with 124 of my House colleagues calling on the Department of Justice to investigate recent attacks against pro-life organizations as instances of domestic terrorism and to fully support state and local law enforcement agencies in ensuring such facilities are protected.
Then, on Friday, I hosted a virtual press conference with Congressman Lee Zeldin, state Senator George Borrello, and CompassCare President, Jim Harden. During the press conference, we urged federal and state authorities to do more to protect New York’s pro-life pregnancy centers. I also stressed the need for greater action and more cooperation between federal, state, and local authorities to enforce the law and protect those with religious beliefs who are being targeted.
Political violence has absolutely no place in America. We must continue to work together to send a clear message to far-left activists that it will not be tolerated. It is time for Attorney General Garland to either step up to the plate and put an end to this anarchy or resign and make way for someone else who will.
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Election Integrity Update: Demanding Answers from the Small Business Administration on its New Designation as a Voting Registration Agency |
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This week, I joined all of the Republicans on the House Small Business Committee to press Isabella Guzman, Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), for answers about the SBA's request to become a designated voter agency, a move which clearly detracts from the agency's primary responsibility which is to help America's small businesses.
Instead of focusing on the needs of small businesses, the SBA seems to be more interested in directing their resources elsewhere. Main Street USA and American families are under siege. Inflation under Biden and Pelosi continues to run rampant. Small businesses cannot hire due to a labor shortage. Supply chain disruptions are hurting daily business operations. The price of gas at the pump is crippling budgets and pocketbooks. These are the real issues the Biden Administration and the SBA should be prioritizing, not partisan political activities.
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Biden's Assault on American Energy Continues |
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This week, I joined the Monica Crowley podcast to discuss President Biden's war on American energy, which is making it harder than ever for Americans to make ends meet by driving costs through the roof.
I hear from constituents on a daily basis who are struggling because of skyrocketing inflation and soaring costs, especially seniors on fixed incomes.
Even the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said that Biden's out-of-control spending likely added 3% onto inflation. It's time to rein in the spending and allow American energy producers to flourish. If we do not have reliable energy, then we will continue to see supply chain problems, rising inflation, and we will never secure American energy independence.
Listen to my interview by clicking the link above!
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Are you satisfied with the steps President Biden has taken to address rising energy costs?
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I'm committed to restoring transparency to government, which is why I explain every vote I take on the House floor. While we may not always agree, you will always know where I stand on the issues and how I vote in Congress. To read more about my votes, please click here.
- I voted “No” on H.R. 7606, the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act. In another effort to shift inflationary and supply chain blame from the Biden Administration to businesses, H.R. 7606 would create a duplicative, unfunded office within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) headed by a “special investigator” with a mandate to investigate meat packers and live poultry dealers. The investigator would be granted “independent litigation authority,” providing carte blanche power to file civil suits against packers at the whims of the Secretary without any coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ)—a longstanding practice required under current law. This legislation also waives requirements to allow E-15 gasoline and higher biofuels blends to be blended and sold commercially year-round and authorizes $400 million in grants for building, installing, or upgrading biofuels infrastructure. Because these provisions were not considered by the Energy and Commerce Committee during a hearing or markup, it is unclear whether they would in fact meaningfully reduce gasoline prices without placing unnecessary regulatory burdens on retailers or increasing emissions. This bill misses the mark once again, and will do little to nothing to fix the hard-hitting issues that Americans are currently facing. House Democrats and the Biden Administration have pursued a reckless spending and regulatory agenda that compounds the situation and further limits American farmers’ ability to meet global food demand. In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world must increase global food production — not divert potential food and feed to be used for biofuels, which will have no positive effect on gas prices. Unfortunately, this package is House Democrats' latest attempt to scapegoat private industry rather than addressing the very real needs and concerns of family farms and rural America. This bill passed by a vote of 221-204.
- I voted “No” on H.R. 2543, the Financial Services Equity, Inclusion, and Economic Justice Act. This legislation wrongly expands the Federal Reserve’s mandate to include addressing socio-economic disparities rather than its intended focus on sustainable employment and price stability. This new responsibility falls outside the core competency of the Federal Reserve and will only distract officials at a time when they should be solely focused on reducing inflation. This reckless bill would pile regulatory costs on small businesses already struggling with labor shortages and increased costs by imposing a one-size-fits-all mandate to report diversity and inclusion data. Finally, at a time when potential home buyers face rising mortgage rates, the bill increases regulatory and compliance requirements on loan providers that will only be passed on to home applicants. This is nothing more than the politicization of the Federal Reserve. While American families are on the brink of financial crisis, paying exorbitant costs for goods and services in their daily lives, House Democrats continue to drive their reckless woke agenda. If they took this plight seriously, they would advance bipartisan legislation to lower costs, reduce regulatory burdens, and unleash American energy. Instead, House Democrats have chosen to mandate that the Federal Reserve, the primary federal agency responsible for combatting inflation, shift its focus to advance a woke social agenda. This bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 215-207.
- I voted “No” on H.R. 2773, the misguided Recovering America’s Wildlife Act of 2021. While protecting out wildlife and ecosystem for recreation and sportsmen should be a bipartisan principal, House Democrats denied all good faith Republican outreach to improve this legislation. They also added partisan provisions to the legislation after it was reviewed in the committee process, bypassing the critical input of Members. This legislation has no federal spending offset, resulting in $1.4 billion in additional deficit spending every year, with a mandatory cost of $12.7 billion in the first ten years alone. Second, it does not include any changes to the Endangered Species Act that would encourage parties to come to the table instead of allowing extreme environmentalists to tie up projects in the court system. Third, in a circumvention of the legislative process, committee Democrats air-dropped a new provision in the bill that will effectively siphon money away from the states and toward the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), contrary to the original intent of the bill. Finally, this bill has no sunset, denying Congress a mechanism to revisit this legislation and update it appropriately so it meets evolving needs. At a time of Democrat-caused reckless spending, now is not the time to pile on more debt that will drive inflation higher and saddle current and future generations with the consequences. While RAWA provides funding towards endangered species conservation, it ignores the reality that the Endangered Species Act needs common-sense reforms to promote species recovery and provide more certainty when it comes to meeting the needs of people as well as fish and wildlife. This bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 231-190.
- I voted “Yes” on S. 4160, the Supreme Court Police Parity Act. This bill will expand protection by the Supreme Court Police to the families of Supreme Court justices. Following the unethical leaking of a draft decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court case, the justices have been bombarded with threats and protests at their homes, culminating in the attempted murder of one justice last week. Congress must take necessary action to protect the justices and their families and to guard the Court from intimidation or political pressure. This long overdue bill, which Speaker Pelosi refused for weeks to bring up for consideration, passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 396-27.
- I voted “Yes” on the House Amendment to S. 516, the Advanced Air Mobility Coordination and Leadership Act. This bill creates a working group comprised of members from multiple government agencies to engage and work with the civil aviation industry. It will work to set up safety and operation standards for new vertical lift aircraft and drone technologies. After having heard from multiple companies in Rome, NY regarding the lack of regulatory framework for Unmanned Aerial Standards (UAS), this legislation will help finally create standards for our local companies to work within. This bill passed by a vote of 380-30.
- I voted “Yes” on H.R. 7211, the Small State and Rural Rescue Act. Many small and rural communities often face barriers in fairly accessing federal aid after flooding and other natural disasters. This bill will expand and codify the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Small State and Rural Advocate when helping state and local officials demonstrate localized impact and apply for aid. It will also instruct the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review how FEMA mobilizes individual aid after a disaster. This bill passed by a vote of 396-14.
- I voted “Yes” on S. 3580, the Ocean Shipping Reform Act. As ports across the country become congested with imported goods as a result of Biden’s supply chain crisis, agriculture exports have been hit hard with increased costs and transportation challenges. This has impacted many of our upstate New York farmers, who are now finding it more difficult than ever to access markets abroad. This legislation will prohibit ocean carriers from unreasonably denying U.S. exports, as monitored and determined by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC). It will also require ocean carriers to report to the FMC how many empty containers they are transporting back to foreign ports. All told, this bill should help American farmers and reduce our $106 billion per month trade deficit by ensuring empty cargo containers leaving U.S. ports are filled with U.S. goods that benefit our small businesses and family farms. This bill passed by a vote of 369-42.
- I voted “Yes” on H.R. 6270, the Advanced Aviation Infrastructure Modernization (AAIM) Act. This legislation creates a $12.5 million a year grant program to help state and local governments plan for the eventual integration of advanced air mobility technologies, including new vertical lift aircraft and drones. These technologies have the potential to change the way people and goods move within and between urban, suburban, and rural areas. This planning will ease the rollout of drones and will benefit the Syracuse-Rome corridor, which is at the forefront of drone testing. The AAIM Act will ensure America remains a leader in aviation innovation. This bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 338-73.
- I voted “Yes” on H.R. 2020, the Post-Disaster Assistance Online Accountability Act.This legislation requires every government agency to create a central repository of requirements needed for their disaster relief funding. It also requires the agencies to centrally list a detailed description of all the disaster funding they provided in the previous quarter. This will bring greater transparency and accountability to our disaster relief programs and make it easier for smaller communities to apply for and secure needed emergency funding. This bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 412-2.
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Celebrating our Chenango County Entrepreneurs |
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I was honored to have my colleagues state Senator Peter Oberacker and Assemblyman Joe Angelino present congressional certificates on my behalf to DCMO BOCES, Sarah Mahan-Green, Esdall Hodges, and Erika’s Cakery at the Chenango Commerce annual gala celebrating our wonderful small businesses!
Thank you to our entrepreneurs who are working tirelessly every day to restore opportunity and prosperity to our region! Did you know that 94% of workers in NY-22 are employed by small businesses?
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Congratulations to the Raymond Corp on 100 Years! |
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This week, The Raymond Corp celebrated its 100th Anniversary! Team Tenney had the privilege of presenting President and CEO Michael Field with a proclamation recognizing the company’s century of innovation and service to our nation's economy and the Chenango County community.
As The Raymond Corp enters its second century, I look forward to their continued success in our area. There's no doubt in my mind that they will continue leading the way for the next generation of pioneers and trailblazers.
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Annual Flag Day Celebration in Utica |
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This week the Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 344 along with the Utica Elks Lodge held their annual Flag Day Ceremony in Utica at the Purple Heart Memorial Park. I was honored to recognize Mrs. Mischael McKenna for her service with the Daughters of the American Revolution to honor and support our veterans. The ceremony was also in honor of my dear friend, the late Mary Wheeler, a Gold Star Mother who recently passed away. |
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Schedule Your DC Tour Today! |
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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.
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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 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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