To the Editor:

Some may support Rep. Stefanik because they’re happy she’s trying to block Democrats from accomplishing things, but I’m holding her accountable every time she claims to be supporting and protecting the people of NNY.

Let’s start with a reminder that she voted down the recent Covid relief package; along with the checks for struggling individuals and the $12.7B specifically ear-marked for NYS.

In her 3/17/21 article, she touted her support for NNY agriculture because she backed the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. But it’s not clear how that helps upstate farms, since half of the $23.6B went to only 5% of agribusiness in the most heavily-concentrated agricultural US states. Nor is it clear how her support for the Farmers to Families Food Box Program helped our farmers; since the vendor companies chosen to profit came from 36 other states; not NY.

She announced that she’d “secured” $99M to bring broadband to NNY under the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. But that’s not going to happen because the FCC ruled that NY isn’t eligible for that money due to a previous federal funding deal the state made with Verizon in 2015.

Now, she’s voted against the Violence Against Women Act (1994) which was allowed to expire under Trump. She doesn’t like, what she’s calling, the “boyfriend loophole” because it restricts guns for “intimate partners who have been convicted of misdemeanor assault or stalking”. So, she’s OK with boyfriends who assault or rape at gunpoint or even kill their girlfriends. She’ll retain her “A” NRA rating by voting down the bill but claims she’s doing it in support of women?

We should all hold Rep. Stefanik accountable for the grandiose claims she makes about her support for the people of NNY if she’s supposedly representing us.

Martha Hodges

Massena