Elise Stefanik
‘We must DEFUND the rot in America’s higher education,’ Stefanik insisted in December, while co-authoring a bill that would withdraw federal funding from universities that do not participate in plans to curb campus protests. -The Guardian
Elise Stefanik is the U.S. Representative for New York’s 21st congressional district and chair of the House Republican Conference, making her the highest-ranking woman in congressional GOP leadership and the fourth-highest ranked House Republican. Elected initially as a moderate conservative, Stefanik is lately considered one of Donald Trump’s closest allies and defenders and a leader of the MAGA movement, both in Congress and politically. She is a key enabler to Trump’s extreme and ultra conservative policy agenda, especially so on education, touting that student debt bailouts are “unfair and unjust,” celebrating SCOTUS’ ruling against the Biden Administration’s debt-forgiveness program, and claiming the Department of Education is enforcing a woke agenda. Stefanik was shortlisted to be Trump’s vice president and is considered to be a high contender for Trump’s Secretary of Education.
According to the Guardian, since 2019, Stefanik and Congressman Virginia Foxx (who heads the House education and workforce committee) have collectively received over $300,000 in contributions from industry sources, including lobbying groups and entities associated with for-profit schools.
Stefanik’s political trajectory has been notably shaped by her evolving relationship with Donald Trump. Initially a critic of the former president, she emerged as one of Trump’s most ardent defenders during his presidency. Her vigorous defense of Trump during his first impeachment trial in 2019 elevated her as a key MAGA ally, leading to her appointment as House Republican Conference Chair in May 2021, replacing Liz Cheney. Since then, she has used her position and platform to defend and enable Trump’s personal and political agenda, including supporting expunging Trump’s impeachment and vehemently backing Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and bring the 2024 election into question before it has taken place.
On policy, Stefanik gained notoriety for her ultra-Conservative views on education, especially involving cutting federal funding for schools deemed “woke” or to be teaching “radical” content. She voted against legislation authorizing individuals to file legal complaints against policies that disproportionately impact students of color, voted to reverse the Biden administration’s rule expanding Title IX’s protections to LGBTQ students, and voted to prohibit school athletic programs from allowing transgender girls to play sports. Stefanik also advocates against any U.S. university partnership or affiliation with China.
Beyond education, Stefanik touts a MAGA agenda across issues.
On democracy, Stefanik was among the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. She falsely claimed that tens of thousands of votes came from deceased or underage people in Fulton County, Georgia. She was one of the Republican members to sign onto a Supreme Court amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election results. Regarding the accepting of face electorate claims she“would not have done what Mike Pence did.”Harvard University removed her from the Senior Advisory Council of the Institute of Politics due to her efforts to overturn the presidential election.
Stefanik has dabbled with certain QAnon conspiracy theories before, such as during the 2022 infant formula shortage. Stefanik criticized the Biden administration for providing baby formula to undocumented immigrants, arguing that Biden was prioritizing immigrants over American citizens. She also accused Democrats of working with unspecified “pedo grifters” to implement this policy, echoing elements of the QAnon conspiracy theory. She also has been accused of circulating campaign advertisements “that play on themes of the white supremacist ‘great replacement’ theory…[which] holds that the elite class, sometimes manipulated by Jews, wants to ‘replace’ and disempower white Americans”.
Stefanik has consistently supported staunchly conservative and regressive economic policies, including tax cuts for the wealthy and deregulation. Stefanik wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and has voted for its repeal. She has taken a hardline stance on immigration, opposing policies that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including DREAMers.
Stefanik is a strong opponent of women’s right to choose. She has also opposed most forms of gun violence prevention measures that have been proposed in Congress and her congressional website touts her A+ rating from the NRA.