As shutdown grinds on, Long Island delegation is meeting with constituents, looking for solutions

WASHINGTON —The U.S. House has not held a vote since Sept. 19.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has mostly avoided engaging with the other political party, arguing the House has "done our work" with passage that day of a bill to reopen government with new funding. But the measure remains jammed in the Senate, and in retaliation, House votes have ceased.

Not sitting on their hands, Long Island's four members of Congress are spending the time on other work. They are meeting with constituents, and at least some have held fundraisers. They are back and forth to Washington to discuss pending issues and legislation with colleagues, including looking for ways to end the shutdown. In some cases, they are tossing jabs about who is responsible for it.

Remote town hall

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) is the only Long Island House member known to hold a town hall during this extended away-period, with the second-term Republican answering phone-in questions remotely from Washington in a virtual event.

More broadly, LaLota has been working both in his district connecting with constituents, including air traffic controllers at MacArthur Airport, members of the Coast Guard and scientists at Brookhaven National Lab, while also traveling to Washington to discuss legislative work with his colleagues, his office said.

But LaLota has also been a notably aggressive attacker on social media — in an op-ed and elsewhere — of the Democratic positions in the shutdown impasse.

He called out Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other New York Democrats for allegedly holding hostage some of his civilian federal worker constituents, and others. He emphasized that Long Island Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen did not vote for the House bill to refund government; only one Democrat out of 211 voting on the measure did so.

Possible compromise?

Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) co-introduced and has been the lead Democratic sponsor on a bipartisan bill that would extend the pandemic-era Affordable Care Act premiums for one year. That idea, if not the exact bill, is being widely discussed now by some as a potential compromise to end the shutdown.

As a result, Suozzi found himself thrust into the shutdown standoff when his own party leader, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries — without naming him — on Monday initially scoffed at the bill as "laughable," saying a permanent extension of the subsidies is what Democrats are instead fighting for. LaLota said he has decided to also co-sponsor the bill.

Jeffries by Wednesday seemed to soften, saying House Democrats would consider such an exit ramp to the shutdown if the Senate agreed to it and sent it over.

Suozzi — co-chair of the bipartisan congressional Problem Solvers Caucus — has been back and forth from D.C. during this break, holding meetings with senators and others on efforts to reach an agreement to reopen government, address the looming spike in health care costs and other issues.

His office said Suozzi also has been holding a range of meetings with individuals and groups on topics ranging from immigration to groundwater concerns to local events.

He’s also taken time for at least one fundraising event. His office acknowledged Suozzi did proceed to hold a fundraiser shortly after the shutdown began, an event in Northern Virginia that staffers say had been prescheduled.

Fight for funding

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), who is the new chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, acted quickly when word came that the Trump administration was undertaking a massive cut to federal counterterrorism funding for police on Long Island and in New York City.

Along with Gov. Kathy Hochul, Garbarino called on Trump to reverse course on what state officials were describing as a $187 million cut to grants that had funded counterterrorism efforts, bomb squads, K-9 and tactical units and other work since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Garbarino said he didn’t let the shutdown — which he blames on Democrats — "stop me from fighting for my constituents."

Also during the break, Garbarino said he’s been working as the Homeland Security chair on other national security matters and is in talks with House GOP leadership about the lapse in the National Flood Insurance Program, caused by the shutdown. Since the NFIP’s lapse on Oct. 1, the government has been unable to issue most new policies or renewals, leaving many homebuyers who need coverage for their mortgage uncovered and throwing purchasing deals into uncertainty.

Garbarino also said he continues to meet with constituents, "including at fundraisers."

Political clashes

Gillen (D-Rockville Centre), the delegation’s freshman member, is hit almost every day by Johnson’s GOP political apparatus and other Republicans with the claim that this is the "Suozzi-Gillen shutdown."

Her district is seen as New York’s most competitive swing area heading into next year’s congressional elections.

But Gillen has responded during the House's no-vote period — in public events and in media interviews — mostly with calls for bipartisanship in finding a solution for families to keep their health coverage. She did slap back that, "Republicans have chosen gridlock and threats instead of negotiation."

Gillen joined Suozzi and dozens of other Democrats this week in signing a letter urging Johnson to finally bring the House back in session so it could vote on a bill to keep U.S. service members paid, even if the shutdown continues.

Gillen has also hit the pavement in Nassau County, talking directly to individuals and groups about the impact that losing Affordable Care Act tax credits could have on Long Island families — and other cost-of-living concerns they are facing.

On Wednesday, for instance, that included a visit to The Innovative Daycare in Freeport to hear from child care providers about how the shutdown is hurting child care services. There was also a visit to a food bank Thursday and a veterans’ roundtable.

"It’s time my colleagues join me in prioritizing lowering costs over political gamesmanship," she said of Republicans.