Editor’s note: This is one in a series of Your Views by Lehigh Valley elected leaders reflecting on 2024 and looking ahead to 2025. Previously published pieces were by U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds, Easton Mayor Sal Panto and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk.
As the newly elected member of Congress for the Greater Lehigh Valley, I want to start by thanking everyone who helped and supported our efforts to bring change to our area. Now, as I get set to move into the role of representative, I want it to be known that I will be there to help every single person in our community, regardless of whether you voted for me or not.
For the past 12 years, I’ve had the privilege to serve part of Lehigh County in the Pennsylvania Legislature. Our office was able to help resolve many issues for people who were facing challenges with state government. I’m looking forward to putting that experience to work on behalf of everyone throughout the region as your representative in Congress.
With the election behind us, and a lot of work ahead of us, now is a good time to reflect upon where we’ve been and where we’re going as a community and as a country.
Since the election, people have continued to ask me: “why did you run?” As we head into the new Congress, my answer is the same as always: our families and communities are being let down by Washington. Too many of America’s leaders and institutions have lost the confidence and respect of the public; working families are falling behind and young people are seeing diminishing prospects; and the world is becoming more chaotic and unstable in a vacuum of leadership. Simply put, people throughout our nation are less safe, less prosperous, and less confident in the future.
My priority is to change that.
I’m confident that we can chart a new course, and it starts by tackling the issues on which Americans have demanded action. We can create a brighter future for young people and working families by fighting inflation and unleashing economic prosperity. We can restore our domestic security and stability by finally solving the border crisis. And we can build a stronger, more secure America by standing up for our interests on the world stage.
So here’s where we can start.
On the economy, we’ve seen costs skyrocket for housing, groceries, energy, and more. Addressing this starts with taking on the out-of-control Washington spending (by both parties) of the last few years and the last few decades. Wasteful spending on corporate handouts and botched programs has blown a hole in our budget and driven our debt to crippling levels. We need to get control again. That starts with eliminating some of the worst culprits from President Biden’s multitrillion dollar legislative agenda, and it continues with new efforts to eliminate waste in the federal bureaucracy. We can also finally embrace American energy — unleashing our domestic energy supply, including right here in Pennsylvania, and delivering real savings to families.
At the border, we have the chance to end the illegal immigration crisis once and for all. According to a recent New York Times analysis, 2.4 million people per year entered the United States from 2021-2023, shattering all previous records and putting an enormous strain on communities. But the biggest issue is that 60% of those entering the U.S. during the Biden administration did so illegally. We must move fast to pass legislation that finishes the wall, adds security infrastructure to the border, deports criminals, abolishes sanctuary cities, and establishes mandatory E-verify to prevent immigrants in the country illegally from taking employment from American citizens and legal migrants. By doing this, we can reduce the flow of drugs, protect American jobs, reduce housing costs, and raise wages for workers.
Looking around the world, it’s clear that American leadership is failing. The Middle East is unraveling at breakneck speed while the bloody stalemate in Ukraine crawls into a third year. Elsewhere, China is steadily eating away at American leadership and growing its influence throughout the world. At home, American manufacturing continues to face unfair foreign competition, threatening our ability to retain and onshore vital industries.
These problems require us to change course in our foreign policy and start directly addressing the challenges our country faces on the world stage. We can’t afford to entangle ourselves in more foreign wars and we can’t afford to distract ourselves from what should be our key objectives. In the new year, Congress must act alongside the president to help bring an end to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and then pivot to addressing our real, long-term international challenges. It’s time for America to adopt a foreign policy that prioritizes American interests, workers, and security above all else.
The path ahead for the next Congress is clear and straightforward. By working together and looking past the partisan noise, we have the opportunity to enact a bold agenda that’s grounded in common sense and the values that unite us. I’m looking forward to working on behalf of the people of the Greater Lehigh Valley each and every day in the new Congress, and I hope that you will join me as we look to strengthen our community and get our country back on the right track.
Ryan Mackenzie is the newly elected U.S. representative from Pennsylvania’s 7th District.
