Legislative Opportunities for a New Year, New President and New Congress

Statement

Over the past two years in Congress, I have been working to advance my New Era of American Strength agenda, which includes protecting America's security at home and abroad, helping grow our economy and create more good paying jobs, supporting our veterans and first responders, improving the quality of education, repairing our nation's infrastructure, improving healthcare in America and safeguarding our environment. With a new year, new president and new Congress, there are many opportunities to advance legislation and other initiatives to improve the direction of our country.

Keeping Americans safe, secure and free must always be our first priority. This includes training and equipping the greatest military in the world and ensuring our law enforcement has all of the tools it needs to protect our communities and country. In 2017, we need to pursue a stronger, more consistent foreign policy, which strengthens our relationships with our relationships with our allies and treats our adversaries as our adversaries. Especially important is the need to defeat ISIS and other terrorist threats, which includes the need to stop foreign fighter travel; a goal that Congress can help accomplish by passing my Counterterrorism Screening and Assistance Act. There is much more that can be done to secure our homeland, which includes improving our nation's immigration system. While there are many challenges that exist regarding immigration, we must start by advancing proposals to secure our border and strengthen interior enforcement. America is a nation of immigrants and everyone should have the opportunity to pursue the American dream, but you must come to the United States legally and follow the rules.

In Congress, one of my top priorities has always been to help grow our economy and create more good paying private sector jobs. We must reform and consolidate our broken tax code, which has become far too complicated and uncompetitive in the global economy. By consolidating the system with less tax brackets, there will be a direct benefit to the American economy, American companies, and the American worker. We should also simplify the tax code so that more Americans can do their taxes on a form as simple as a postcard. Another way to keep the U.S. competitive in the global marketplace is by ensuring that any trade deals entered into by the United States place America first and level the playing field so that American workers, families and businesses can compete and win in the global marketplace. We must also boost "Made in America" products to keep good paying jobs here. To further improve the business climate in the U.S., we must shut-down job killing red tape and harmful regulations hurting employers and employees, which includes getting the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act (H.R. 26) signed into law.

Supporting our veterans and first responders must also remain a high priority. These brave men and women, who willingly and selflessly put their lives on the line while defending us, deserve nothing but the highest quality of life and care. Working across the aisle, I will re-introduce and push forward my bills to increase care for our veterans, including my bill to expand nationally the PFC Joseph P. Dwyer Veteran Peer Support Program, or "Dwyer Program," so that every struggling veteran across the country eventually has access to a peer support group. I will also work closely with my colleagues to ensure a timely and proper delivery of healthcare for our 9/11 first responders who are now sick or will become sick as a result of their selfless efforts at Ground Zero in the weeks and months that followed the attacks. Furthermore, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needs to be reformed to better serve our nation's heroes. We have to ensure that each and every veteran who goes to the VA is receiving the quality of care that they deserve and that VA officials are given the resources and flexibility needed to hold poor performing employees accountable.

There are so many ways that we can improve the quality of education in our schools. Rolling back the excessive amount of federally-mandated testing in grade schools to shift the focus in our classrooms from testing to teaching is key to ensuring our students are set up to succeed. By passing the Student Testing Improvement and Accountability Act, testing will be reduced to pre-No Child Left Behind levels and our children's education and well-being will be put first. Advancing the investment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in our schools is also critical. STEM is vital to the education of our youth and the future of our country in the 21st century; preparing students in our communities to pursue good paying jobs will contribute to economic growth, increase innovation and allow us to remain competitive in the global marketplace. Furthermore, modernizing student loan debt financing is an important step to improve higher education. I will be re-introducing my bill, the Earnings Contingent Education Loans (ExCEL) Act, to replace the broken student loan system with an individualized loan repayment program tailored to each student's needs.

In the U.S., too much of our infrastructure is in need of additional support. Working with the new administration and Congress, we can repair our nation's infrastructure and further address vulnerabilities and opportunities for improvement through sensible policies, including the use of more public-private partnerships, to strengthen our roads, bridges and other forms of infrastructure. We also must physically secure all of our nation's infrastructure from threats of terrorism and Mother Nature. Through collaboration with the Army Corps of Engineers, we can advance projects to boost coastal resiliency and our waterways using the natural environment to reduce flooding, erosion, and storm damage, while preserving the natural environment and wildlife.

Improving healthcare in America is also a top priority. Obamacare has been nothing short of a disaster for countless hardworking families and our economy. The system has failed and it's only going to get worse. We must repeal and replace Obamacare with a new reality that will work better and make healthcare more affordable, while continuing to cover Americans with pre-existing conditions and allowing children to stay on their parent's policy. It's also essential that we preserve and protect Seniors' access to Medicare to ensure that benefits are not cut, and seniors receive the benefits and care they need and have earned. Congress should also continue to help those coping with mental health issues and/or drug addiction by further increasing treatment and recovery services, and education measures, and address the drug crisis by stopping the flow of illegal narcotics into our country, and helping law enforcement identify and target drug traffickers.

Safeguarding our environment is important to our life, culture and economy. Every American should have access to clean air and clean water, and we must protect and preserve our abundance of natural resources. In Congress, one of my highest priorities is to ensure we pursue a better direction for Plum Island, a cultural, historical, ecological, and natural resource. I will continue working to advance my bill to ensure we pursue a better direction that allows for continued research, public access and permanent preservation of the island. Fishing is another essential part of our culture and heritage, which is why I am focused on improving the management of our fisheries and reforming our current fisheries laws, while sacrificing none of the environmental and economic benefits of continuing to rebuild coastal fish stocks.

This year, I will continue working to secure more victories through my New Era of American Strength agenda. It has been an honor to represent the First Congressional District of New York, and I am looking forward to pursuing all of these great opportunities and more for our community, state and nation.

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