A Message from Rep. Brandon Williams:

Our 22nd Congressional District encompasses all of Oneida, Madison, and Onondaga counties, and a sliver of Oswego County. As always, I am working to support families in CNY and the Mohawk Valley, improve our local infrastructure, grow manufacturing, and rein-in energy costs through common sense engineering and business practices. As a Navy Veteran, I stand with and for our veterans. I am protecting Social Security and Medicare for our elderly, and I always speak up for our law enforcement, firefighters, and first responders.

H.R. 2799, the Expanding Access to Capital Act, was introduced by Congressman McHenry to reduce securities regulations that apply to certain companies, advisors, and brokers, as well as to expand who may be considered an accredited investor in the context of participation in private offerings of securities.

Among other things, this bill ensures that enterprising Americans seeking crowdfunding to build capital for their ventures are able to do so without excessive regulatory hurdles, while ensuring appropriate protections for investors from fraud.

You can read the full bill text, here.

The House will vote next week on H.R. 7320, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which is meant to curb abuses of section 702 of FISA by prohibiting Section 702 queries that are solely meant to find and extract evidence of a crime.

Section 702 of FISA prohibits the targeting of Americans for the purpose of gathering foreign intelligence, and H.R. 7320 keeps this prohibition in place. The intelligence community must obtain a court order, after probable cause is found that an individual is an agent or employee of a foreign power, in order to conduct targeted surveillance.

Under this bill, the DOJ's National Security Division would conduct reviews at least annually of each individual targeted under FISA section 702 to ensure that the purpose of each decision is not the targeted surveillance of a United States person. The bill also contains a number of proposed FISA court reforms.

The full bill text is accessible, here.

As the March 1st government funding deadline approaches, I remain committed to responsibly keeping the government open. As last year reminded us, new crisis situations can arise at any time, and Congress must be ready to respond appropriately to whatever may happen.

It is also our responsibility to minimize waste in spending, and to ensure that the projects and agencies within our own communities receive the attention and funding they need. These are responsibilities that I don't take lightly.

During the FY2024 appropriations process, 12 of the 15 Community Project Funding requests I submitted were approved, totaling over $20,000,000 approved to fund initiatives across CNY. These projects, in NY-22, include sewer and pump station improvements, funding for new technology in classrooms, the purchase of police equipment, and the expansion of checkpoints at the SYR airport, among other things.

The full list of approved FY2024 community projects can be found here.

I had the chance to visit the Erie Canal Museum in Downtown Syracuse on Friday, and I'm especially grateful to the staff who showed me around. Since 1962, the museum has been a free educational resource for adults and children alike, housed in the last weighlock building remaining in the United States.

The museum hosts free-to-attend family events, midday lectures, and more, on top of free general admission every day of the week.

For the museum's full event schedule, click here.

If you are experiencing difficulty with a federal agency, my office can help.

Trained caseworkers can assist with agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. While we cannot guarantee a favorable outcome, we will do our best to help you receive a fair and timely response to your problem.

NY-22 residents can contact our Syracuse (315-233-4333) or Utica (315-732-0713) offices for assistance. You can also submit a request on my website, here.

Thank you for reading this week's wrap-up!