John J. Faso

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to give my thanks to the people of the 19th Congressional District for giving me the honor of serving them in the House over these past 2 years.

I ran for Congress focused on how I could make a difference for the people of our district. It is no secret that upstate New York has been in a long, protracted period of economic decline, with many families and businesses choosing to leave due to high taxes and few employment opportunities.

As such, my focus upon taking office was how we can make upstate more economically competitive while, at the same time, making sure that our citizens, businesses, and local governments have an active voice representing their interests before the Federal Government.

I listened to the people across the district--firefighters and emergency responders, law enforcement, educators, business owners, and average working families--who told me of the issues that we face: the opioid crisis, the highest property taxes in the Nation, the exodus of people and jobs from upstate New York.

A primary focus of mine was the opioid crisis. This issue has devastated and destroyed countless lives across our Nation. I was pleased to have become the primary sponsor of legislation in the House. Working with my colleague from Michigan, Mike Bishop, we successfully enacted major opioid legislation, which included the STOP Act.

This legislation will crack down on the flow of illegal drugs, such as fentanyl, coming into the U.S. from places like China through the U.S. Postal Service. The STOP Act is now law, and I am proud to have had a role in its passage.

Agriculture is another major concern in the 19th District. Serving on the House Agriculture Committee, we have lowered the cost and increased the flexibility of dairy risk management programs, fought for better documentation to protect the sanctity of organic agriculture, made it easier for veterans to transition into agriculture, and supported increased broadband and cell service, which is critically important in our rural areas.

I have also led on two initiatives which are critical to the economic health of upstate New York. My legislation, offered with other members of the New York delegation, would finally have ended our State's policy of imposing a share of Medicaid costs from Albany onto local property taxpayers.

This mandate is so significant that just the county government taxpayers in New York State pay more in State-mandated Medicaid costs than local taxpayers in the 49 other States combined.

People are fleeing upstate New York because of high property taxes, and New York's Medicaid mandate is one of the reasons for that exodus.

The second initiative which I advanced was to preempt the absolute liability standard for gravity-related construction site accidents on federally funded projects. Again, New York stands alone among the 50 States in this absolute liability standard.

The fact is, this standard doesn't protect workers and adds approximately 7 percent to the cost of every building project in our State. With multi-billion-dollar projects like Gateway needing Federal support, it is critical that we use the preemption power to finally end this waste of taxpayer dollars and use those savings to rebuild and repair more infrastructure.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I must comment on the state of our political discourse in the United States. We all need to renew our efforts to conduct our debates on public issues in a civil and respectful fashion.

There is no doubt that the fragmented media and a general decline of standards has coarsened our public debate. There is plenty of blame to go around for this situation.

I encourage all those who hold elected office to recognize that we hold a sacred trust from the American people. We should uphold this responsibility in an honorable and dignified fashion and renew our efforts to improve the quality of public debate in the United States.

In doing so, we will renew our commitment to make a more perfect union. Moreover, we will give honor to those who have sacrificed to win and maintain these freedoms which we cherish.

The Constitution is forever our guide, and we should always remain true to it. We must also continue to promote individual liberty, the rule of law, and the dignity of all of our citizens. These are the characteristics of America that make ours a truly great Nation.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for his leadership and I thank the ranking member for his leadership on this legislation.

The conference report provides much needed resources that will help farmers cope with a 5-year, 50 percent collapse in the farm economy, the largest such drop since the Great Depression.

During this process, we have acted in a bipartisan fashion to fix broken government programs that have not worked as intended and left farmers with nowhere to turn.

In upstate New York, perhaps none are hurting more than our local dairy farmers. New York is the third largest dairy State, and our farmers are hurting. The current dairy programs do not work, and improvements to the farm bill combined with those in the bipartisan Budget Act from earlier this year will help our farmers weather the storm.

We have made the dairy safety net more flexible by increasing coverage options, more affordable by reducing premiums, and more enticing for participation by bringing more incentives for those farmers to participate.

We have also worked to protect the SNAP program and laid the groundwork for future Congresses to make additional changes. By incentivizing work through better local workforce consultation and reducing the number of waivers that States can bring, we can bring more recipients into the workforce during a time of record low unemployment.

Additionally, changes like the National Accuracy Clearing House and minimum standards for participant tracking will help enhance program integrity and ensure that benefits are available to those that need them most.

Mr. Chairman, I urge adoption of the farm bill. Upstate New York and our farmers have waited long enough. I am proud to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with great respect and admiration to recognize James ``Jim'' Campion, the President of Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson, New York. Jim is retiring at the end of the 2019 academic year, culminating an impressive and nearly fifty-year career in higher education.

An outstanding leader and mentor, Jim has consistently displayed an unyielding dedication to improving New York's community college system. Under his leadership, Columbia-Greene Community College has expanded educational opportunities, improved campus safety and amenities, and provided more innovative curriculum and career training for students.

The tireless commitment of educators like Jim is fundamental to the success of our communities, our state, and our nation. Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in congratulating Jim on his retirement and thanking him for his many years of dedicated service to New York State.