The Peru Gazette

Saratoga, NY – Congresswoman Elise Stefanik will serve on the Bipartisan NE Congressional COVID-19 Regional Recovery Task Force, which includes a group of Members from the Northeast, where COVID-19 has hit the hardest.

The Task Force will work with leading economic and public health experts and work together to create bipartisan recommendations and policy proposals to get Americans back to work. Also on the Task Force are Representatives Mikie Sherrill (Co-Chair, D-NJ), Pete King (Co-Chair, R-NY), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Jim Himes (D-CT), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Dan Meuser (R-PA), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ).

“Examining how to protect public health and reopen our economy on a regional basis instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach is critical to the success of our region’s recovery,” said Congresswoman Stefanik. “Small businesses and agriculture businesses are the backbone of our North Country economy, and I will bring a unique perspective to this bipartisan task force as the Representative of a rural district. I will use input from my conversations with constituents, business owners, farmers, and public health officials in my district as a guide for recommendations to protect public health reopen our economy and get Americans back to work.”

The group will meet virtually weekly to discuss the following topics:

• When and how Americans can get back to work safely
• Replenishing stockpiles of PPE
• Coordinating future stockpiling of ventilators, gowns, etc. among federal, state, and local governments and hospitals
• Increasing access to reliable virus and antibody tests
• Developing a plan for efficient contact tracing
• Containing the pandemic and preventing future waves of outbreak
• Addressing societal fears around returning to public spaces

• Voting safely
• Ensuring that production of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies is returned to the United States from China