WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Congress wrapped up for the winter holidays, we caught up with freshmen Senator Dave McCormick (R- PA) on his first year in office. He spoke with us about the legislation and policy change he helped craft; and what he wants to focus on next year.
After narrowly winning Pennsylvania’s Senate seat over incumbent Senator Bob Casey, Republican Senator McCormic shared a few things he focused on in congress this year:
“Stopping the flow of fentanyl, law and order in our cities, securing the border, unlocking energy, so passing legislation or supporting policies that ultimately delivered on those promises was job one,” said the Senator. “I think we made a lot of progress, we still have work to do but a lot of progress.”
This summer, the Senator hosted an energy and innovation summit. It brought in global leaders in energy and artificial intelligence to the Keystone State. He said the summit secured 90-billion dollars in investments for Pennsylvania.
“I think every year we will do a summit of some kind that will focus on innovation and the things Pennsylvania has to offer,” said the Senator. “We’re in a battle with China in energy but we’re also in a battle with Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and Texas to make sure they know- the world knows- that Pennsylvania has so much to offer and we need to attract that capital and talent to Pennsylvania to make sure it creates great jobs.”
Looking ahead, the Senator said he wants to tackle the affordability crisis.
“The big three I’m most worried about are the cost of housing, the cost of energy and the cost of healthcare,” said the Senator. “We need more housing supply.” He adds he’s introduced legislation which has passed out of one committee “The Road to Housing Act” which he said will make it easier to build new housing.
“We need permitting reform,” said the Senator. “We need to embrace all forms of energy whether its solar, nuclear, or natural gas we need it all.”
The Senator said healthcare will be one of the toughest challenges because healthcare prices have been going up. “Obamacare failed,” said the Senator. “It was supposed to provide greater access, better quality and cheaper healthcare. It’s done none of those things. So we’ve got some work to do.”
