Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21), along with representatives Annie Kuster (D-NH), Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Peter Welch (D-VT), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), John Katko (R-NY) and Claudia Tenney (R-NY) recently introduced a bill that would continue funding for the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC) and extend its authorization for five years.

The Northern Border Regional Commission Reauthorization Act of 2017 would also allow the NBRC to include promoting the development of renewable energy resources to meet their 40% minimum of projects, and it would permit NBRC to attract businesses from outside the United States.

"This legislation is critical to growing our North Country economy and creating good paying jobs in our region," Stefanik said in a prepared statement. "As a Member of the Northern Border Caucus, I am pleased to support this important reauthorization and will continue to work with my colleagues to expand the economy along our Canadian border."

Created by the 2008 Farm Bill, the NBRC is a federal-state partnership that includes a federal co-chair and the governors of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. The commission was established to organize federal funding towards specific state economic and community development projects in rural parts of the Northeast. The NBRC is required to provide at least 40 percent of their grants to develop transportation infrastructure of the region, basic public infrastructure of the region, and to develop the telecommunications infrastructure in the region. The commission is also prohibited from trying to attract businesses from other regions within the NBRC, Stefanik’s office said.