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Stefanik opposes border bills

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik speaks in July. (Provided photo — Sydney Shaefer, Watertown Daily Times)

(Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the two bills that U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, voted against. The Homeland Security Act did not address separating migrant children from their families. The act would create an ombudsmen to oversee border and immigration-related concerns. The U.S. Border Medical Screening Standards Act would not require the Office of Customs and Border Patrol to establish procedures for medical screenings for all individuals. Rather, it requires the Department of Homeland Security to research innovative approaches to address medical screening and establish an electronic health record system. The information in the earlier article was based on earlier versions of the bills, before they were amended. The Post-Star and the Enterprise regret the errors.)

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, voted against two bills involving procedures at the southern border.

The Homeland Security Improvement Act passed by a 230-194 vote. The bill establishes an office of ombudsmen for border and immigration enforcement related concerns in the Department of Homeland Security. This person would be responsible to ensure compliance with departmental policies and standards of care for custody of aliens and report any violations of policy or standards of care. In addition, this person would file a report about the number of complaints received. In addition, the legislation would require the ombudsman to submit a plan for the use of body cameras by U.S. Border Patrol agents and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to Congress.gov.

Stefanik also voted against the U.S. Border Patrol Medical Screening Standards Act by a vote of 230-184. The bill would require the secretary of Homeland Security to research innovative approaches to address capability gaps regarding the provision of comprehensive medical screening of individuals, particularly children. In addition, the chief information officer of the Department of Homeland Security will establish an electronic health record system that can be accessed by all departmental components operating along the border.

Stefanik joined 10 other Republicans in a 236-174 vote to approve a joint resolution terminating the national emergency that president Donald Trump declared last February to deal with the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Marijuana banking

Stefanik voted in favor of the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act of 2019, which would prohibit a federal banking regulator from penalizing a financial institution that provides banking services to a legitimate marijuana-related business.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised the House passage and called on the Senate to take action. He said the medical marijuana and industrial hemp industries offer economic development for farmers and businesses.

“This is an important step in building an accessible, inclusive and socially diverse industry that recognizes the past harms of marijuana prohibition and the disproportionate impact laws governing marijuana have had on communities of color,” he said in a news release.

Opioid task force

The House voted nearly unanimously for a bill authorizing the Department of Homeland Security to establish a joint task force on border security. The goal is to prevent narcotics such as fentanyl and other synthetic opioids from entering the United States.

A lawsuit filed by New York and three other state’s challenging the constitutionality of the 2017 federal tax reform plan was dismissed in U.S. District Court on Monday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo had filed a lawsuit over the $10,000 cap on the amount of state and local taxes that could be deducted on the federal return. He claimed that the law unfairly penalizes Democratic-run states with progressive tax policies and could cause people to leave the state.

New Jersey, Maryland and Connecticut also joined in on the suit.

Cuomo said New York is already the largest “donor state” in the nation because it pays the federal government $36 billion more than it receives in aid every year. The SALT cap costs New Yorkers another $15 billion each year.

“The bottom line is this policy is unprecedented, unlawful, punitive and politically motivated — and it must be stopped. We disagree with the court’s decision and are evaluating all options including appeal,” he said in a news release.

Produce prices

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., sounded the alarm last week about a looming crisis, because the prices produce farmers are receiving for their goods are not keeping pace with their expenses.

Gillibrand held a conference call in which she pointed out that the prices for fresh fruit and vegetable growers has stayed flat, and in some cases has gone down, but the middlemen who move produce from farmers to grocery stores have seen the prices they receive increase 20%, she said, according to a transcript of the call.

“One fourth-generation farmer from New York told me that the price he gets for a 50-pound bag of his yellow onions is only a couple of dollars more than what he got when he was selling them in the 1980s, straight out of college. As his expenses have increased, he has trouble breaking even each year,” she said.

Gillibrand is asking that Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Purdue conduct a review of the fruit and vegetable industry, which has not been done in nearly 20 years.

Gillibrand said she will be introducing a bill in the coming weeks that have access to real-time price information and can determine if the prices they are being offered for goods are fair and reasonable.

“Farmers are living frugally and going into debt because of this produce pricing crisis. Losing more farmers is not an option. We cannot stand by and do nothing while our produce farmers are hurt by a system that is putting our communities, farmers, and food security at risk,” Gillibrand said.

Cybercrime legislation

The U.S. Senate last week passed legislation to help school districts and municipalities being targeted by ransomware and cyber schemes.

The bill would authorize the Department of Homeland Security to strengthen cyber hunt and incident response teams to protect state and local entities and restore infrastructure following an attack.

This bill was introduced in response to ransomware attacks, when a computer is taken over and locked by a hacker, who will not release access until the ransom is paid.

The Syracuse city school district had to pay a $50,000 insurance deductible to gain access to its computer system after it was attacked by ransomware. The district was locked out of its operating system for 24 hours, which damaged their email system and website and phones, according to Schumer. The Watertown school district also was victim of an attack.

Municipalities are affected by the issue. The city of Albany was hit with an attack, which resulted in its police department losing access to the operating system. City workers could not access documents such as birth certificates, death certificates and marriage licenses.

“It’s critical that we use all available resources to protect New York students from cyber crooks, and enhance and increase our resiliency to these attacks,” Schumer said in a news release.

The House has passed a different version of the bill and now they have to be reconciled.

Enterprise Staff Writer Aaron Cerbone contributed to this report.

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