Stefanik is a Schuylerville resident who is seeking her fifth term in Congress.

–

Inflation, environment

–

Stefanik said that she is a “leading voice” in highlighting inflation. She said the Federal Reserve “missed the boat” on inflation early on and is now raising interest rates, which she said is “crushing families.” She proposes lowering the rate of inflation by holding the Fed’s “feet to the fire.”

Stefanik also said she sees opportunities to cut spending in “every federal agency,” as there is “waste, fraud and abuse” across the board, as well as redundant programs.

“We’ve seen under Joe Biden that there have been trillions and trillions of dollars of spending that are pet projects,” Stefanik said.

One of the “pet projects” she identified was “hundreds of billions of dollars on Green New Deal projects.”

The Inflation Reduction Act passed this year includes $370 billion for addressing climate change, the largest investment the nation has ever made in addressing the harm humans cause the planet.

“We are in a recession right now and we need to rein in that spending,” Stefanik said.

Stefanik was asked if she believes protecting the environment comes second to the economy.

“Economic challenges are the number one concern of voters in this district,” Stefanik said.

She pointed out that home heating bills are set to be the highest they have been in the past decade this winter. Stefanik said reining in inflation is her top priority if reelected. Next would be lowering the cost of energy. She said the way to do this is by increasing American-produced energy with an “all-of-the-above approach” for all sorts of energy, which includes coal.

She still says she supports the environment with other votes, getting funds for the Lake Champlain Basin program, co-sponsoring the Great American Outdoors Act and protecting funding for an acid rain monitoring program. Acid rain is a result of burning coal.

Stefanik voted against the Inflation Reduction Act, which she calls the “Inflation Expansion Act” or “‘Build Back Broke’ with a new name.” Last week she said it has not reduced inflation and people are still being crushed with bills.

Before the vote, she lambasted the Inflation Reduction Act’s environmental provisions, investing and giving tax credits to green energy, as “far left.”

–

Housing

–

To address the affordable housing shortage, Stefanik proposes strengthening the economy. She said real estate and rental prices have gone up, and she says it’s the Democrats’ fault.

–

Social Security and Medicare

–

Stefanik said she plans to protect Social Security and Medicare for seniors into the future, making “no changes for those in or near retirement.” But, for people in her age group who are likely to live and work longer, she said she wants to “improve” these programs so they don’t become bankrupt in future generations.

–

Jan. 6

–

Stefanik has called the House committee investigating the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 a “partisan sham.”

“The committee is illegal because it’s the first time in the history of Congress where there’s been a committee where the minority party is not able to appoint members,” Stefanik said.

There are no Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee because Republicans boycotted appointing members to the committee after House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy’s first two nominees were rejected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Stefanik also said she opposes the committee because the only office off limits from investigation is Pelosi’s. She wants to see Pelosi’s information because Pelosi’s office oversees the board that oversees the Capitol Police. Stefanik blames Pelosi for the riot on that day, because she says Pelosi’s office communicated with the House sergeant at arms who made the decision to reject additional National Guard troops before the riot.

Stefanik said she condemns the violence at the riot, and then compared Jan. 6 with the national Black Lives Matter protests against police violence in 2020 after several high-profile killings of Black people by police, calling those “riots” as well.

Stefanik was asked if former Vice President Mike Pence did the right thing in certifying the 2020 presidential election results on Jan. 6, 2021, after the attempted insurrection and after Stefanik voted objecting to electors from Pennsylvania.

“I stand by my objection to certain electors. I stand by my floor speech. There was unconstitutional overreach,” she said. “I stand by my objection on Jan. 6. That is a different perspective than Vice President Pence had.”

She did not say whether she thought Pence did the right thing.

Last Saturday, Stefanik was asked in a press pool at a rally in Saranac Lake if she believes Biden is the fairly elected president. She said she believes he is the “sitting president of the United States,” but that there will always be questions about the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

“I laid out that in the state of Pennsylvania you had unelected individuals unilaterally rewriting election law,” she said.

A fact check of Stefanik’s speech on the 2020 election can be read at https://bit.ly/3W74KF8.

Stefanik was asked if politicians should feel obligated to accept the results of elections. She pointed out that Democrats have challenged electors in the election of every Republican president since Ronald Reagan, saying it is a common practice.

The fact-checking website PolitiFact points out that none of these presidents had been actively working to overturn the election and stay in power, as Trump was on Jan. 6.

Stefanik was asked how faith in American elections can be restored. She sits on the Election Integrity Caucus, a Republican-led caucus that proposes election security reforms, which she said will restore faith and confidence in elections for people who questioned the result in 2020. Some of these changes include establishing a chain of custody and signature verification for absentee ballots and requiring voter ID.

–

Ukraine

–

Stefanik said she supports the billions of dollars in humanitarian and military aid the U.S. has sent to Ukraine. She added that the U.S. should appoint an inspector general to oversee those funds to make sure they are not wasted, and that she encourages America’s NATO allies to increase their financial contributions to Ukraine, too.

Stefanik said she does not support deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine.

“We need to be very, very careful that we’re not drawn into endless entanglements around the world,” she said.

From her seats on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, she said she had been a “strong voice” for supplying defensive lethal aid to Ukraine before the invasion started for deterrence, but she said Democrats did not bring that legislation to the floor, so it did not pass.

In 2021, the Biden White House halted a $100 million military aid package for Ukraine before a meeting between Biden and Putin, and while Russia claimed it would draw back troops it has on the Ukrainian border.

In 2019, Trump also temporarily halted $400 million in aid to Ukraine, an act which garnered him his first of two impeachments for suspicions that he was trying to bribe Ukraine. Trump was acquitted of these allegations in the Republican Senate.

Stefanik claims Russian President Vladimir Putin “sensed” Biden was “weak” as Ukraine moved Westward politically, which she posits was the reason for the invasion.

–

President Biden

–

Stefanik has been very critical of the FBI under Biden, saying the president uses it as a “political arm” to go after his opponents, such as Trump, who says he is “probably” running in the 2024 election.

She was asked if the FBI should investigate presidents for potential crimes regardless of party. Stefanik said there are whistleblowers who say the FBI refuses to go after Biden’s son Hunter for alleged crimes.

She was asked if there is a difference between her criticizing the FBI for investigating Trump for alleged crimes and her considering impeaching Biden. Stefanik wanted to set the record straight on her comments on House Republicans considering impeaching Biden if they gain a majority in this election.

“Where did I say that?” Stefanik said.

She recently told the New York Post impeachment is “on the table” for Republican lawmakers. She had not said she supports impeaching Biden herself and strongly opposed implications that she did.

“I said ‘all legislative options are on the table and that’s a decision for House Republicans to make when we’re in the majority,'” Stefanik said. “Don’t put that word in my mouth.”

She added that the “GOP, as any Congress, will look at every legislative tool possible.”

Some of her colleagues have suggested impeachment. Stefanik said Republicans would need to make that decision as a group.

But in a press pool at her rally in Saranac Lake on Saturday, Stefanik said impeachment is a consideration for her, personally.

“Of course anything is on the table,” she said.

She added that impeachment is a “high bar” to clear, and criticized Democrats for not clearing that bar in her view during Trump’s two impeachments.

She reiterated that it is up to Republicans as a group to decide if they attempt to impeach Biden.

–

Abortion

–

At the rally on Saturday, Stefanik was asked about her stance on abortion. In 2018, she said “Roe v. Wade is settled law.” After Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in June, she applauded the decision. She recently co-sponsored a bill which would ban abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and threats to the life of the mother.

“I’ve always had a pro-life record, with exceptions,” Stefanik said.

Stefanik accused Castelli of supporting abortion “up until and after the moment of birth.”

“Stefanik is once again spreading disgusting lies about fake scenarios that she knows full well do not exist to try to distract us from her extremist agenda to control women,” Castelli wrote in an email responding to Stefanik’s claim. “So let me be clear: ‘post-birth abortion’ DOES NOT EXIST.

“When it comes to women’s lives and health, I believe that women should make their own healthcare decisions without interference from the government,” he added.

Castelli himself made some false claims about Stefanik’s stance on abortion.

“She believes 10-year-old assault victims should be forced to give birth, women should be forced to carry non-viable pregnancies to term, regardless of the risks, and that women should die rather than receive life-saving medical treatment,” he wrote in an email.

The 15-week bill Stefanik co-sponsored includes exemptions for those cases, and she has said she believes those exemptions should exist.

Castelli said this is a freedom issue.

“Stefanik doesn’t just believe the government should tell women what they can and cannot do with their own bodies,” he wrote.

–

Bipartisan

–

Stefanik said the media focuses her support of “President Trump” but overlooks the bipartisan results she got done during his presidency. She accused Biden of only working with far-leftists.

Stefanik used to be bipartisan. She was ranked the 13th most bipartisan House member on the Lugar Center think tank’s McCourt School Bipartisan Index in 2020, but fell to the 100th most bipartisan House member in 2021. That’s out of 435 House members. She had been becoming more bipartisan over the years up until 2021, according to this index, starting ranked at 68 in 2015 and rising every subsequent year, staying in the teens in 2018 through 2020.

Stefanik has voted against many Democratic proposals in the past two years, as that party has control of the Senate, House and executive branch.

Despite her score changing dramatically, Stefanik still touts her bipartisanship.

“I am one of the most independent and bipartisan Republican members of Congress,” she said.

According to the index, she is the 42nd most bipartisan Republican member of the House, out of 213 Republicans.

–

FCI Ray Brook

–

Stefanik said she is advocating for increased funding for corrections officers. She also recently cosponsored the Prison Camera Reform Act, which would update the federal Bureau of Prisons’ camera and radio systems. Stefanik said this is something COs requested to increase safety.

Stefanik said she stood up for corrections officers during the coronavirus pandemic to get them back pay, COVID-19 compensation and personal protective equipment. She also helped coordinate the prison with counties and hospitals to get COVID-19 data in the prison shared.

The prison is currently severely understaffed, according to a CO union president there, who is requesting pay raises, retention pay and more funding to keep the prison safely staffed.

Election Day is on Nov. 8.