By Sabrina Artusa
Representative Nick LaLota (R-NY1) on March 5 and Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY3) held a virtual town hall March 6 address their constituent’s concerns, where federal cuts were chief among them.
Suozzi’s town hall was attended by over 10,000 people. Suozzi, who was one of 10 Democrats to censure Texas Representative Al Green (D-9th) after Green interrupted President Donald Trump’s (R) Joint Address to Congress, fielded questions on his motivation behind the vote.
“That is not appropriate,” he said, noting. “If it was a Republican doing that to a Democrat it wouldn’t be appropriate and I can’t be a hypocrite.”
Instead of “getting caught up in the protests and the sign-holding and interrupting the president’s speech,” Suozzi emphasized building relationships on “both sides of the aisle” as a method for Democrats to gain a foothold in Congress and “get things done” and “win the argument.”
Residents asked how Suozzi will stand against the federal cuts, including $880 million in proposed cuts to Medicaid. Education, litigation and mobilization were the three primary routes to change, said Suozzi.
Suozzi added that, “58,000 are in the affordable care act that comes from Medicaid; 305,000 people on Long Island are low-income individuals on Medicaid; 133,000 disabled Long Islanders are on Medicaid; and 62% of people in my district in nursing homes are on Medicaid … when you want to see someone’s values look at their budget.”
“We need to talk about the importance of Medicaid and how important it is in your life,” Suozzi told a disabled speaker who relies on Medicaid and Social Security and was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to afford to live on Long Island without the aid.
Suozzi admitted that he gets frustrated with the opposite party, but disagrees with dramatic displays of protest such as Green’s, whom he said he has successfully worked with in the past. At the address, Suozzi said he “was angry at the president” but doesn’t want to indulge forces that “want to divide us.”
One speaker called this approach “naïve,” saying Suozzi has “fallen prey to the paradox of tolerance.” Overall, the meeting lasted an hour. Speakers who were unable to ask questions were encouraged to leave a voicemail.
To contact Suozzi go to suozzi.houe.gov. Washington, DC, office at (202- 225-3335.
LaLota held a town hall on March 5. The tele-town hall comes after a President’s Day rally held at his office by Indivisible, a grassroots national movement. The rally was organized to demand an in-person town hall meeting. Lalota has previously only held tele-town halls.
He fielded accusations that tele-town halls are scripted with questions not being representative of his constituents’ concerns, responding that these claims were untrue.
Integrating polls throughout the call, LaLota garnered feedback on hot topics such as tariffs and Medicaid cuts. In regard to the tariffs, LaLota said he would monitor them and felt confident that the president would use precision and care when using tariffs as leverage.
LaLota said “we need to reduce spending: and he wants “people in government to root out things that don’t make sense.”
To contact LaLota go to house.lalota.gov; district phone number is (631) 289-1097.
