Governor Cuomo says he cares about Upstate New Yorkers. I want to believe that rhetoric, but his recent actions show different.

December 2014, Gov. Cuomo told farmers and families of Western New York that economic opportunity and jobs were not his priorities for us. Rather, King Cuomo caved to downstate special interests and closed any possibility of New York leading the nation, in what even President Obama has called the 'American energy renaissance.' Because of his unilateral decision, New Yorkers cannot develop their mineral rights and as a result Southern Tier families and communities have suddenly lost valuable income streaming their own property.  I care for those family farmers and taxpayers and that is why I will lead a charge in Congress to ensure those individuals have the opportunity to be justly compensated for their losses.

I invited Steuben County farmer Neil Vitale, the Vice President of the Steuben County Land Owners Coalition, to the State of the Union address last night to highlight this issue. We did this to reinforce the potential of the American Energy Renaissance and to speak to the loss that thousands of New Yorkers like Mr. Vitale will face due to Governor Cuomo's policies. These policies hurt our communities, they hurt our neighbors, and they hurt our families. Instead of developing safe, natural gas that provides jobs and encourages New York manufacturing, Governor Cuomo has left New York manufacturers with higher energy costs and fewer opportunities for our residents. This in turn leads to fewer jobs for New York as a whole.

Additionally, it wasn't until we led a public outcry alongside State Senator Tom Libous that King Cuomo relented and asked the Gaming Commission to offer a casino license to the Southern Tier. I had hoped to hear more about how that job creating opportunity will move forward.

Besides the lack of good economic news for the region, I was further disappointed that there was no mention of repealing other Cuomo dictates such as the Safe Act, which attacks our Second Amendment rights or Common Core, which destroys local control of our schools. It is not fair we are denied these rights.

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