{"id":99154,"date":"2019-02-07T12:36:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T17:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=99154"},"modified":"2019-02-07T10:43:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-07T15:43:52","slug":"news-from-our-representatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=99154","title":{"rendered":"News from our representatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: The following are arranged in the order received.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Gillibrand invites decorated transgender Navy lieutenant commander to State of the Union Address<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Lieutenant Commander Blake\nDremann has been deployed 11 times and won the Navy\u2019s highest logistics award<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed\nServices Committee, announced that she will bring decorated transgender Navy Lieutenant\nCommander Blake Dremann to this year\u2019s State of the Union address as she readies\nnew legislation to protect transgender service members in response to the recent\nSupreme Court ruling allowing President Trump\u2019s ban on transgender military service\nto go into effect. Gillibrand introduced bipartisan legislation with the late Senator\nJohn McCain last Congress to defend transgender troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am inspired by Lieutenant Commander Blake Dremann\u2019s leadership\nand am honored that he will be attending the State of the Union as my guest,\u201d said\nGillibrand. \u201cLieutenant Commander Dremann is a proud member of the U.S. Navy, he\nis a loyal patriot who has devoted his career to serving and protecting our country,\nand he is also one of the thousands of transgender service members serving in our\nmilitary with honor and distinction. Transgender service members like Lieutenant\nCommander Dremann make extraordinary sacrifices every day to defend our freedom\nand our most sacred values, and President Trump\u2019s decision to ban them from military\nservice is cruel and undermines our military readiness. The heads of the Army, Navy,\nAir Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard have testified to Congress that transgender\nservice members are serving in our military without any problems. Any transgender\nAmerican who meets the standards should be able to sign up to join our Armed Forces,\nand that\u2019s why I\u2019m going to introduce new legislation this week to protect current\nand future transgender service members. I am proud to lead this fight and I urge\nall of my Senate colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gillibrand\u2019s State of the Union guest, Lieutenant Commander Blake\nDremann, is the President of SPARTA, an LGBT Military Advocacy organization focused\non transgender military advocacy that assists over 800 service members, across all\nseven uniformed services, in navigating and understanding the transgender military\npolicies so as to ensure the highest military readiness. Dremann regularly assisted\nwith educating commanders on implementing the Department of Defense\u2019s transgender\nopen service policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lieutenant Commander Dremann\u2019s personal decorations include the\nDefense Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Joint\nService Achievement Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and four\nNavy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals. He is qualified as a Submarine Warfare\nSupply officer and Surface Warfare Supply officer. In 2018, Dremann received the\nDepartment of Defense Pride Military Leadership Award and was an Out Serve-Service\nMembers Legal Defense Network \u201cOutstanding Advocate\u201d Honoree for their 25th Anniversary.\nDremann is a 2003 graduate of Ozark Christian College, earning his Bachelor of Biblical\nLiterature. He is also a 2016 graduate of the Air Command and Staff College Joint\nProfessional Military Education Phase I and is scheduled to graduate with a Masters\nof Business Administration from Norwich University in June 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brindisi launches \u201cBrindisi at Your Business\u201d in Rome<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As part of his work to help grow our economy and create jobs\nin Upstate New York, Congressman Anthony Brindisi (NY-22) officially launched \u201cBrindisi\nat Your Business\u201d Feb. 4, 2019 – an ongoing effort to listen to employees and business\nowners and leaders in New York\u2019s 22nd Congressional District.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brindisi kicked off the program at Sovena USA, one of the largest\nolive oil companies in the country. Sovena supplies more than half of the private-label\nolive oil sold in the U.S., and its Rome plant is known for its on-site quality\ncontrol lab, the only one of its kind in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the visit, Brindisi met with Sovena representatives to\nlearn more about the company, its plans to expand and hire, and the work that can\nbe done on a federal level to help them continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of my top priorities is to help create good jobs for Upstate\nNew Yorkers and support businesses that drive our local economy,\u201d said Brindisi.\n\u201cI\u2019m launching Brindisi at Your Business because it\u2019s important for me to hear straight\nfrom employers, employees and business leaders about the work we need to do to help\nthem grow and thrive. I look forward to visiting businesses, large and small, all\nacross Upstate New York.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any business interested in participating in Brindisi at Your\nBusiness should email brindisi.scheduling@mail.house.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney general offers debt relief to workers and families impacted by\nfederal shutdown<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Attorney General Letitia James<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Program to offer retroactive relief for certain student, medical\nand other state-referred debt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney General Letitia James announced Feb. 4, 2019, a debt\nrelief program for workers and families in New York who were impacted by the shutdown\nof the federal government. Over the course of the shutdown, countless New Yorkers\nwere impacted directly or indirectly, forcing them to forgo income and business.\nEven though the shutdown is over, the pain felt by those impacted continues. In\nan effort to support these workers and families and ease their financial burdens,\nthe Attorney General’s Office is offering temporary debt relief on certain debt\nfor those furloughed federal employees, contractors, and their families. The relief\nwill apply from Dec. 22, 2018, to April 25, 2019, in order to provide those eligible\nwith debt relief from the day the federal shutdown began to 90 days after the end\nof the shutdown, Jan. 25, 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furloughed federal employees, third party vendors, contactors\nand other impacted parties, and their spouses, domestic partners and legal dependents\nmay be eligible for this program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individuals who fit this criteria and are seeking this potential\nrelief should visit the website<\/a> of the Civil Recoveries Bureau of the Attorney\nGeneral\u2019s Office to access a Federal Shutdown Debt Relief Application<\/a>. Individuals can also\ncall the Attorney General\u2019s Office hotline at 1-800-771-7755. Debt Relief Applications\nwill be accepted until May 28, 2019. Hardship applications may be accepted after\nthat date at the sole discretion of the Attorney General\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salka solution commonsense healthcare, not snake oil cures<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Assemblyman John Salka<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Assemblyman John Salka (R,C,Ref-Brookfield)\nissued the following statement on single-payer healthcare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a medical professional, I wholeheartedly support affordable and accessible\nhealthcare for all New Yorkers, but it shouldn\u2019t be tainted with a $1,600 income\ntax increase that would cripple already overburdened middle-class families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Assembly Committee on Healthcare met Feb. 5, 2019, to discuss\nthe options of single-payer healthcare in New York. Salka said recent polling<\/a> indicated a lack of support for single payer\nhealthcare, with only 37 percent in support after being told it would require people\nto pay more in taxes. He said the number fell to 26 percent in support when told\nsingle payer would cause some medical treatments and tests to be delayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe owe it to our constituents to deliver healthcare options\nthat are actually viable, such as creating 529-style healthcare savings accounts\nand letting taxpayers make the decisions. These accounts would be supported with\nnew and current wasteful state resources so that no matter your situation, you\u2019d\nhave a voice in your healthcare. We can add more competition into the market and\ngive the individuals the power to decide their own fate. It would be tax free and\nwould reduce costs and help improve the quality of healthcare available to all New\nYorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assemblyman John Salka represents the 121st Assembly District,\nencompasses all of Madison County and portions of Oneida and Otsego counties.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: The following are arranged in the order received. Gillibrand invites decorated transgender Navy lieutenant commander to State of the Union Address Lieutenant Commander Blake Dremann has been deployed 11 times and won the Navy\u2019s highest logistics award U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced that she will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,23811,23814,8],"tags":[24251,24495,24493,24494,24496,24103],"class_list":["post-99154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-national","category-state","category-top-story","tag-assemblyman-john-salka","tag-civil-recoveries-bureau","tag-congressman-anthony-brindisi","tag-nys-assembly-committee-on-healthcare","tag-sovena-usa","tag-u-s-senator-kirsten-gillibrand"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/MCCPaperLogo.jpg?fit=800%2C678&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-pNg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/70770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}