Claudia Tenney speaks on district priorities, issues

Jan. 13—With a new Congressional session finally underway and with a slight Republican majority, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney recently addressed issues impacting her district she plans on tackling and others impacting the party in Washington.

The 24th New York Congressional District was newly redistricted for the 2022 elections, made of parts of 12 counties stretching across Western and Central New York from the eastern half of Niagara County to as far north as Watertown and including the areas of Batavia, Geneseo, Oswego, and the Finger Lakes. Tenney handily won election for the district, having previously served for New York's 22nd Congressional District.

With the 24th District being the largest agricultural district in the northeastern U.S., Tenney said agricultural issues would be important, with new overtime rules for farmers, the need to get employees for farmers, and the race for electrification is going to be hard for farmers in the district.

"I think it's gonna be very hard for us to meet those standards and not cause irreparable harm to our business community, particularly the farmers," she said. "They're a big part of the New York economy and this is going to be a top issue in the district."

Tenney was also named a member of the Republican Steering Committee for the House Ways and Means Committee, something that she had been seeking to join since 2018. She cited her past experience running a family business, Mid-York Press Inc., and her lawyer background in tax, banking, and corporate law as her key ability for being on it.

"It's important to have a voice in this committee for Upstate New York, because our interests and needs are very different than New York City," Tenney said, with those communities more driven by farmers and small businesses. "I think finding a way to bring some prosperity to our much beleaguered small business community with tax reform is going to be important."

As of this past December, the U.S. has sent an estimated $50 billion in assistance to Ukraine for its war against Russia. While Tenney said the situation in Ukraine the situation is not changing and the resources the United States sent are helping, there are a number of House Republicans who are opposed to increasing Ukraine aid without more accountability on their end.

Regarding George Santos, the newly elected Republican for New York's 3rd Congressional District who made false claims about his background during the 2022 election cycle, Tenney said he was extremely disappointed in him, but did not say that he should resign. She said she is waiting to see what the results of investigations into him and it is up to the voters of that district to make that determination to remove him.

"I don't want to interfere with the voters of the 3rd District," Tenney said.

Tenney will soon be opening a district office in Lockport, at 169 Niagara St., with that currently in a temporary space while that location is being renovated.