Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who is seeking re-election, held a roundtable discussion with Chinese-language media at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in New York on October 16. During the meeting, Gillibrand outlined her legislative accomplishments over the past year in areas such as gun violence prevention, veterans’ support, and combating workplace sexual violence. Acknowledging the Chinese community’s traditional emphasis on education, she also highlighted the Cyber Service Academy program included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which offers information technology scholarships and collaborates with several top universities in New York City and the state to recruit multilingual talent, including those proficient in Chinese.
Gillibrand noted that in the past year, five of her proposed bills have successfully passed and received the President’s signature. These include making interstate gun trafficking a federal felony, expanding health care coverage for veterans, addressing sexual violence in the military and workplace, and the scholarship initiative encompassed in the NDAA. She also emphasized her ongoing attention to the rise in hate crimes against the Asian American community since the COVID-19 pandemic, for which she has introduced relevant proposals that have been approved.
Her legislative agenda also focuses on mental health care and enhancing language services for new immigrant communities at the federal level. If re-elected, she plans to push for nationally mandated paid leave, tax relief for the middle class, and regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrency.
The Cyber Service Academy scholarship program, which has been active for a year, is currently accepting applications for its second cohort. Gillibrand specifically mentioned that high school students proficient in Asian languages, including Chinese, Cantonese, and Japanese, will receive priority admission based on current national defense needs. Participating institutions include prestigious universities such as New York University, City University of New York, State University of New York, New York Institute of Technology, Pace University, Fordham University, and St. John’s University. Students awarded scholarships will attend these institutions tuition-free and receive substantial support; in return, they must serve in a civilian capacity for the Department of Defense, CIA, or NSA for several years after graduation, with further details available at https://reurl.cc/LlzyXK.
Regarding the upcoming elections in November, Gillibrand expressed cautious optimism about the Democratic Party’s ability to reclaim the House and a measured optimism about the Senate and the White House. On the topic of ethical conduct for officials, she revealed that she is collaborating with Republican colleagues on a bipartisan proposal aimed at prohibiting all members of Congress from engaging in stock trading, to prevent them from improperly profiting from insider information.
