Congresswoman Elise Stefanik joined Paul Vandenburgh on WGDJ Talk 1300 to discuss her role in crafting House Republicans' Commitment to America to address the concerns of Upstate New York at the highest level.

Press Release

Highlights of the interview include:

On House Republicans' focus on the issues that matter:

"This is a Democrat party in free fall. They are losing on every issue that is important to the American people. As House Republican Conference Chair, my main focus in terms of developing the messaging was that we are going to talk about the issues that actually matter to the American people."

On House Republicans' Commitment to America:

"We believed it was very important, when it came to running in this election, that not only we expose the crises that Democrat policies have created with single-party rule but put forth our agenda. We spent the past year developing our Commitment to America, which really is our guide for the first 100 days and the first year in Congress--focused on four major pillars."

"An economy that's strong, so immediately stopping the trillions of dollars of reckless spending that we've seen in Democrat majorities in the House and Senate, bringing their budget back towards balance. When it comes to energy, which is an important part of a strong economy, unleashing American energy independence. We have a package of bills that have been introduced, although Nancy Pelosi hasn't brought them to the floor. We are going to bring them to the floor."

"In terms of a nation that is safe, making sure that we secure the border. We've been working with the Homeland Security Committee, Border Patrol, the National Border Patrol Union to make sure that we are delivering the resources when it comes to securing the border, that we are ending the catch and release policies, that we are conducting oversight over the place of illegals into states like New York in the dark of night. A future that's based upon freedom--standing up for our Constitutional rights, holding Big Tech accountable, and making sure that free speech and Second Amendment rights are represented. It also means standing up for parents' rights when it comes to their kids' education."

"A Government that's accountable and conducting rigorous oversight over these very politicized agencies, whether it's the Department of Justice, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security."

"So we have the agenda. We are running and going to win on this Commitment to America."

On addressing NY-21 families' concerns:

"The biggest concern overwhelmingly is inflation, just like it is everywhere else in the country."

"Joe Biden has been asleep at the switch on Northern Border issues. Like so many other issues, I have been a leading advocate to open the Northern Border, to lift some of the mandates. For example, there was an app that folks had to check in that Canada has put into place. I successfully worked with Canadian counterparts to lift that app requirement just to continue to have that strong commerce and that strong day-to-day traffic across the border, which is so important to our North Country economy."

"We are the agriculture powerhouse of New York State. Dairy is incredibly important, and when you talk about diesel costs, fertilizer costs increasing--that had a huge impact on our farms, plus you have very bad state policies like this overtime rule lowering of the threshold to 40 hours. That's going to devastate all of our farms in Upstate New York and the North Country. I also represent apple orchards, specifically the Champlain Valley apples, which are known around the world, and they're going to be impacted negatively too."

"We are going into a Farm Bill in the next Congress, and this will be my second Farm Bill. I was part of the negotiations of the most recent Farm Bill when I was a newly elected member and delivered multiple wins for Upstate farms. We're going to do that again in a Republican majority, and I know how to get things done for this district."

"People are very excited and humbled, and I am as well that Upstate New York and the North Country have a seat at the highest levels, and my constituents deserve that. I'm not going to apologize for that, because they deserve to have their concerns and priorities advocated for at the absolute highest level."

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