The Albany Update with Jason McGuire

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. During this week’s program, we’ll be looking at NYCF’s 2022 Digital Day of Action and the issues covered in the livestream. In regard to the protection of human life, we highlight our opposition to a proposal from Gov. Kathy Hochul that would mandate and expand abortion coverage in New York. In the realm of family policy, NYCF focuses...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. A federal bill that had the pro-life community concerned went down to defeat in the U.S. Senate last week. New York’s two U.S. Senators, Schumer and Gillibrand, unsurprisingly voted for the legislation, but one lone Democrat stood with the Republicans to defeat this no good, very bad bill. Abortion continues to be a state concern as w...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. It’s been a wild week in not just state or national politics, but in the global political scene. I’ll tell you more about an extended interview I had with a missionary to the Ukrainian people. He helps us understand how to pray for the Ukrainians and world leaders right now. Then, turning to national politics, we’ll see that Senator M...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. Across the country and here in New York, many are growing weary of the COVID restrictions. While mask mandates have long been a point of contention, the effort to end them is gaining momentum. Today, we’ll tell you about the Republican effort to end the school mask mandate across the Empire State. Then, with the Superbowl in the rear-...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. On February 9, 2022, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the statewide mask mandate for indoor public places would be lifted effective February 10. In today’s program, we encourage Gov. Hochul to lift the mask mandate for schools as well. Then, Under the leadership of Gov. Kathy Hochul, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) is co...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution requires that a census be taken every ten years. Following the decennial count, the resulting numbers are used to draw legislative district lines corresponding to whatever population shifts may have occurred during the last decade. This redrawing of district maps is referred to as...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. Recently, we discussed the annual March for Life and now that the 2022 March for Life is behind us, we'd like to tell you a little more about why this march mattered so much. Looking at federal news, the biggest story of the week was the announcement that United State Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will be stepping down from the...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. At the federal level, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer suffered an unsurprising, but still stinging, defeat when an effort to repeal the filibuster rule was rejected. In today’s program, we’ll explain what this means and why maintaining the filibuster rule matters so much. Turning to state news, the State Assembly is moving a...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. The story that dominated the news cycle last week was the United State Supreme Court’s beat down of President Joe Biden’s OSHA overreach. There was something to celebrate in the decision, but an area for concern as well. We’ll discuss. In New York, mobile sports betting recently went live and we’re not a fan. Then, we’ll note the appo...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. In Albany, Governor Kathy Hochul offered her inaugural—and unless she wins re-election in November—her only State of the State Address. What will the Governor’s priorities be in the coming months? We’ll discuss. Mrs. Hochul wasn’t the only laying out her agenda, though. The State of the State Address also serves as the unofficial star...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. In federal news, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Oral arguments will be heard on January 7, 2022. New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms is signing onto an amicus brief opposing the mandate on religious liberty grounds. We’ll delve into more detail in today’s p...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) sent shockwaves through Washington, D.C. when he announced that he would not be voting for President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act. The announcement delivered a likely death knell to a signature issue of the President’s agenda. That isn’t the only federal issue we’ll be discussing on today’s program. The...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. Governor Kathy Hochul’s latest mask mandate dominated the news cycle this week. I’ll lay out some of the specifics. Next up, there was a decision from the United States Supreme Court regarding religious exemptions from vaccination for health care workers. It wasn’t an encouraging one for proponents of religious liberty. Then, we’ll di...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. We’ll begin today’s program looking at two stories out of New York City. Last week, the City Council approved giving voting rights to non-citizens. Additionally, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is requiring that all non-public or private school employees be vaccinated against COVID. Both these stories constrict liberty for citizens and shoul...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. For those of us in the pro-life community, last week was an encouraging one. We were present outside the U.S. Supreme Court when oral arguments were heard in a case that could overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion legal across America. The atmosphere outside the courthouse was jubilant. The pro-life community easil...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. We have some troubling news to share. Despite knowing that its evangelical base is not on board, Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, announced that the GOP was launching an LGBT initiative. The big state news of the week was the release of the Assembly Judiciary Committee’s Cuomo investigation—and it’s dam...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. On Monday, November 22, 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s vaccine mandate for health care workers takes effect. As a result, it appears that those seeking religious exemptions from the mandate will be fired just as they head into the holiday season. Gov. Hochul isn’t only denying religious liberty, though. She’s also denying basic biology. La...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. This time of year, our organizations’ attention often turns from state to national issues. State legislators aren’t in session, but members of Congress are still in Washington, D.C. Two issues we’ll be reporting on this week include the Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act and the Build Back Better Act. Those aren’t the only federa...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. Last week was a tremendously busy week for numerous reasons. First, the United States Supreme Court showed movement on not one, but two cases, the pro-life and religious liberty communities are watching. We’ll look at both actions and consider what it might mean for the court facing the big case that could overturn Roe v. Wade . Then,...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. Late last week news broke that former Governor Andrew Cuomo was being charged with a misdemeanor in the alleged groping of a former aide. It’s unlikely that Cuomo will receive any real consequence. It’s a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year behind bars, but as a first-time offender the ex-governor will likely only see a slap...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. There is a reason why some Albany insiders refer to JCOPE (the state’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics) as “J-Joke”. What happened last week regarding former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $5 Million book deal is only the most recent example of why no one takes this ethics commission seriously. Speaking of ethics, many are calling into questio...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. On today’s program, we’ll look at the Biden Administration’s plan to rescind something referred to as the Protect Life Rule. Elsewhere across the nation, a federal court has again allowed the Texas Heartbeat Law to stand. This lifesaving law is likely heading to the United State Supreme Court to determine its constitutionality, but ev...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. On November 2, 2021, New York voters will elect candidates to various judgeships and local offices, including Mayor of New York City. They will also vote on five proposed amendments to the New York State Constitution. While these five ballot measures may not receive as much media attention as political campaigns do, they may have a gr...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. This week, in national news, we’re noting that the U.S. House of Representatives passed a radical abortion bill, scarily similar to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2019 Abortion Expansion Act. We’ll look at its likely fate in the U.S. Senate. Then, at the state level, Health Commissioner Howard Zucker is out—or at least soon will be—and Gov. Kath...

Thank you for joining this week’s edition of the Albany Update. This week the Supreme Court of the United States announced that in December oral arguments will be heard in a case that could overturn Roe v. Wade . Speaking of the courts, a Christian adoption and foster care agency in Central New York finds itself defending its right to serve children in need and their families in a manner consisten...