By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

Congressman Anthony Brindisi held a town hall on Saturday, Mar. 23 at Cazenovia High School to meet with his constituents and discuss a variety of topics, including agriculture, healthcare, education and climate change.

Brindisi, a democrat, is the current representative of New York’s 22nd Congressional District, which extends from the east end of Lake Ontario through CNY to the Pennsylvania border, including Utica, Rome and Binghamton.

He said he plans to visit every county in the district in 2019.

“I take the title of representative seriously,” said Brindisi. “To do my job, I need to hear directly from Upstate New Yorkers about the challenges they face and the issues on their minds. Our town halls are also a way to make sure people know where I stand. At the end of the day, you are my bosses.”

Agriculture/Dairy

Brindisi established a local Agriculture Advisory Council to help guide his work in Washington, D.C.

“We have a lot of small and medium-sized farms throughout our district and they are struggling right now,” Brindisi said.

Upstate New York farmers are facing a number of challenges, including a shortage of workers, tariffs and low milk prices.

In an effort to address the shortage of skilled farm workers, Brindisi partnered with Congressman John Joyce (PA-13) to introduce bipartisan legislation to help Upstate New York dairy farmers hire the workforce they need to efficiently run their operations. The bill, titled The Dairy and Sheep H-2A Visa Enhancement Act, would add dairy workers to the eligibility list for a program that allows foreigners to work legally in the United States in agriculture for a limited time.

“It’s kind of a place holder bill,” Brindisi said. “We want to see larger comprehensive immigration reform, but as part of the immigration reform package, I want to make sure that our farmers are being considered in that discussion, and that’s what this bill will help do.”

Brindisi expressed his support of legislation to expand whole milk options in the school lunch program, as well as working with Chenango County-based Chobani to change regulations to give Greek yogurt more credit as a high protein, healthy option in the school lunch program.

Brindisi stated that as a member of the House Agriculture Committee, he is currently reviewing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement—a new trade agreement negotiated by President Donald Trump that is supported by many farmers as a way to boost New York State agriculture exports.

When asked his opinion on the use of chemical pest deterrents, Brindisi responded that he supports adopting new technologies such as drones to help cut down on pesticide use on farms.

The congressman also stated that despite the President’s proposed budget cuts to agricultural research funding, he plans to do whatever he can to ensure that the federal government supports important research institutions like Cornell Cooperative Extension.

“I want to see more investment in those kinds of programs, particularly at a time when our farmers are facing so much uncertainty in the market,” he said. “I don’t want to do anything to make their jobs, their lives, [or] their ability to grow their crops and export and sell their products any harder . . . Congress does have the power of the purse, sometimes that [point] gets lost, but we do.”

Healthcare

“I would like to get to a point in this country where we have universal health coverage,” Brindisi said.

He explained that the Affordable Care Act has been under attack, which has created uncertainty in the insurance market and has lead to higher premiums. According to Brindisi, Congress is looking to pass legislation to help stabilize the Affordable Care Act to make sure that premiums start to level out.

Brindisi pointed out that there are millions of people in this country who qualify for Medicaid or other coverage, but do not take advantage of the programs for one reason or another.

“The more folks you have with coverage, the better outcomes you are going to have later on and the more money you are going to save in terms of Medicaid dollars, hospital costs, etc.,” he said.

Brindisi supports the public option, a proposal to create a government-run healthcare plan to compete with private health insurers.

“I think competition is a good thing,” he said. “We need to have competition not just in healthcare, we need it in all kinds of industries—banking, telecommunications, you name it.”

Brindisi said he is in favor of encouraging more competition in the market to drive down costs.

He also brought attention to the lack of healthcare professionals in the district’s rural areas, saying there is a need for family physicians, nurses, substance abuse councilors and mental health providers.

He said Congress needs to look into ways to incentivize healthcare professionals to work in rural areas, noting loan forgiveness as one example.

Education/Student Debt

According to Brindisi, student loan debt is currently the second largest consumer debt in the nation.

In addition to supporting pell grants and loan forgiveness programs, Brindisi believes that Congress must do more to lower student loan interest rates and to go after both for-profit colleges and lenders that charge exorbitant fees on top of student loan debts.

Brindisi also promoted middle and high school programs that lead to careers requiring apprenticeships or fewer years of college-level education.

“We need a lot more folks going into trades, into advanced manufacturing [and] into the healthcare industry; a lot of those careers only require two years,” he said.

Climate Change

“I believe climate change is real and it’s happening and we have to do something about it now before it’s too late,” Brindisi said.

Brindisi assured his constituents that some potentially bipartisan climate-related legislation should be coming out of the House this year. He also stated that whatever infrastructure package the House puts forward will be focused on green infrastructure.

He said in New York State, a lot of energy comes from nuclear and hydroelectric power, which are low carbon, but are not considered renewable energy sources under the proposed Green New Deal.

Additionally, Brindisi said he supports putting an end to subsidies to large oil and gas interests.

The congressman also touched on gun control.

Brindisi stated he respects the second amendment, but he also supports “common sense reforms” to try to cut down on gun violence. One area in which he sees potential for bipartisan support is the systematic expansion of background checks.

“Most of the gun violence that happens in New York happens with firearms that are actually purchased legally in other states, like Virginia, that have some loopholes in their background check laws,” Brindisi explained. “Those guns are smuggled up here, sold illegally and used for gun violence.”

Brindisi also discussed topics such as broad band expansion and stated he supports net neutrality.

Veteran’s affairs, campaign finance reform, poverty, access to childcare and public transportation were also explored.

Brindisi touched on the idea that New York functions as a so-called donor state.

“For every dollar we are sending down to Washington, we are getting 80 cents in return in terms of federal [funding for things like Medicaid and public education],” he said.

Conversely, most states receive more money back from the federal government than they pay out.

Contact Congressman Brindisi, visit brindisi.house.gov/contact.